


Robert Small: Vampire Hunter

by FandomFluid



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Canon Trans Character, Family Issues, Fluff, Lots and lots of Pining, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Non-Explicit Sex, Some angst, cis female writer trying her best, mentions of dysphoria, smallmarch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2018-12-11 17:29:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 57,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11719092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomFluid/pseuds/FandomFluid
Summary: Robert had been meaning to investigate Damien for a while. When Mary suggested he take the guy out for dinner, he decided it was the perfect opportunity to get closer to him and expose him for what he truly was, once and for all. He never once stopped to think that Damien might just be a human.Damien had been attracted to Robert since the day he'd met him. The man seemed a bit eccentric, but that was part of his charm.Also Known As: Robert starts dating Damien and doesn't even know that they're dating.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I'm not trans, I'm not an expert on transgender experiences, and I've never claimed to be. I figure everyone is different, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation or what have you. This is just how I interpret Damien and his experiences being a transgender man. My goal is to write him as a good character who just happens to be trans, not just a walking gender identity. I'll do my research where it's due. I do have multiple transgender friends and one transgender family member, and experience wearing binders.  
> Thanks for your patience and continued support.

            The first time Damien had ever seen Robert Small was the one night he’d let Mary drag him out to a sleazy little bar. The man was without a doubt one of the most handsome men he’d ever laid eyes on. He was rugged, with dark hair, tanned skin, and dark eyes. If you ever saw someone like Robert in a romantic comedy, you’d automatically know that he was the story’s Bad Boy. Admittedly, Damien had always liked the bad boys in those movies.

            “Ooh, who’re you staring at, Dames?” Mary asked with a smirk when she caught the way her friend was gazing off somewhere. She followed his gaze over to the figure of Robert, who was very busy swindling some poor bastard out of a couple hundred dollars over a game of pool.

            “You into the bad boys, Dames? I never pinned you as the type.” She teased, making her friend snap his attention back to her, flush, and then take a drink of wine.

            “He has a certain… _je ne sais quoi_.” Damien admitted, his cheeks still pink as he purposefully looked anywhere but back at the man in the leather jacket.

            “You can just say you like his ass, you know.” Mary chided.

            Damien’s cheeks got even pinker. “It’s not that! Well, perhaps it is partially, but that’s not what I meant, Mary.”

            “What’d you mean, then?” She chuckled, downing the rest of her own glass of whiskey.

            “He’s very handsome. He looks like he’d smell rather like wood, or very musky. He might have a few scars on his torso.” Damien explained, going back to staring at the other man.

            Mary smiled a bit as she listened to her friend daydream and fantasize over her other friend. “If you buy me another drink, I’ll talk to him for you.”

            “I couldn’t possibly ask you to do that.” Damien shook his head.

            “I’d do it anyway. I just want you to buy me another drink.” She shrugged.

            “Mary Christiansen, you’re going to empty my wallet.” Damien lamented, though getting her another glass of wine.

            “Oh, like you don’t make ass loads already. You’re a single dad and you live in a huge house with a fricking library, Dames. Who’re you trying to fool?” Mary teased.

            “I do have a budget, you realize.” Damien reminded her.

            “A budget more flexible than a slut in Amsterdam, sure.”

            Damien sighed softly and sipped his wine. Mary took a rather long sip of her own before patting Damien’s shoulder.

            “Autobots, transform and roll out.” She hummed to him before leaving his side to go over to Robert, leaving her friend very confused at the bar.

            “Hey, Robby,” Mary said, sidling over to Robert at the pool table.

            “Hey, Mare,” Robert replied, keeping focused on the pool game as he sank the eight ball into the hole he’d predicted, then scooped up the stack of twenties from the side of the table. “What’s up? Wanna blow this joint and throw rocks at shit?”

            “Maybe later. I gotta question for you, Rob.”

            “What’s up?”

            “What do you think about Damien Bloodmarch?”

            “I barely know him, why?”

            “Well, he’s interested in you, and he’s sitting back over at the bar. Why don’t you invite him to coffee or dinner or something?” She asked.

            Robert blinked at the proposition and looked over at his neighbor at the bar. Damien had always been odd and now the guy was willing to let him get close to him? It was all so perfect. The stars had aligned and now he had his chance. He finally had his chance to catch his first real vampire.

            “Sure, okay,” Robert replied with a shrug, striding over to the bar and sitting next to the other man. “Heya, Bloodmarch.”

            Damien looked bewildered when Robert sat down next to him. His cheeks were a bit flushed. He must have known Robert was on to him. After all, with a name like Bloodmarch, he had to be inhuman.

            “Hello,” Damien replied after swallowing his drink of wine. “How are you this evening?”

            “How’d you like to go to dinner with me tomorrow night? Maybe Italian?” Robert asked with a small smile at the other man.

            “Oh. I would enjoy that.” Damien replied, caught off guard by Robert’s bluntness.

            “Great. I’ll pick you up at six?” Robert suggested.

            “That sounds lovely.”

            “It’s a date, then. See ya tomorrow, Damey.” Robert replied before going back to the pool table to swindle another drunken idiot out of a couple hundred dollars.

            Damien was left watching after Robert as he walked away, dumbfounded as Mary sat back down next to him at the bar with a grin on her face.

            “I have a date tomorrow night,” Damien said to her as he sank back into reality.

            “Yeah, you do. Congrats, Dames.” Mary said, patting his back.

            “Oh, goodness, I need to get home. I told Lucien I wouldn’t be too late and it’s already eleven. I need to figure out what to wear tomorrow.” Damien said suddenly, finishing his wine.

            “Whoa, whoa, trooper. Let’s get you an Uber home first, kay?” Mary laughed. “Jesus, it’s like you haven’t dated in a decade.”

            “That’s about how long it’s been,” Damien admitted.

            “Wait, for real? Dames, why’d you never go out with anyone? You’ve got nice hair and a nice body, you could definitely get a piece of almost anyone you wanted.” Mary asked in awe as she got the Uber for the two of them.

            “I wasn’t comfortable enough with myself. Besides, I was busy.” Damien replied honestly.

            “That’s sad, Damey. You have at least a decade of good dick you need to catch up on now. You’re probably smart to start with Robert. I mean, I’ve never seen his, but I’m assuming it’s pretty high quality.”

            “Mary, please. I’d never go home with anyone after the first date.” Damien replied.

            “Julio is coming in a black Sedan in three minutes.” Mary announced. “Didn’t you once tell me that you started seeing Lucien’s other dad after hooking up with him?”

            “I was in college at the time, therefore it doesn’t count.”

            “Sure it doesn’t. If Bill Clinton doesn’t get to write off Lewinsky as a ‘one-time thing’, you don’t get to either.”

            “How long until the Uber gets here?”

            “Two minutes now. Gee, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to get rid of me, Damey. That hurts, pal.”

            “It was not my intent to emotionally wound you, Mary. I just believe you’ve had enough to drink, and it’s showing.”

            Mary just laughed at that. When their Uber showed up, she joined him in the car that drove them to her house. Since Damien’s was only a couple houses away, he got out with her and would walk the rest of the way.

            “Goodnight, Dames. You gotta tell me how your date goes tomorrow, kay?” Mary hummed, hugging her friend tightly.

            Damien gasped as Mary hugged him tightly, squeezing what little breath he had left out of his lungs. “Mary, my binder. I can’t breathe.” He gasped out, sighing when she let him go.

            “Sorry, pal. I always forget about that thing.” She apologized.

            “It’s quite alright. Tell your family I send my best.” Damien replied.

            “Will do. Tell Lucien that I say, ‘Keep it one hundred.’” Mary hummed. “He’ll know what it means.”

            “Ah, alright. Goodnight.” Damien replied, a bit confused, but he bowed to her nonetheless before heading off to his own home.

            Lucien was still awake in the living room when he came home, tapping away at his phone while Ghost Adventures played on the TV. When Damien passed Mary’s message on to him, the teenager made finger guns at him and clicked his tongue, only confusing his father further.

 

            Damien woke up first that morning, just like every Saturday morning. When he checked on Lucien in his room, the teenager was still fast asleep. He smiled and let his son sleep, figuring he’d wake him up if he was still asleep at noon. He made himself breakfast and a strong cup of morning tea. He decided he’d enlist Lucien’s help in picking out an outfit when the boy was awake and fed.

            Lucien woke up close to noon, ambling out of his room and rubbing his eyes. “Mornin’.” He hummed to his father.

            “Good morning, my child. Would you like me to make you scrambled eggs for breakfast?” Damien asked with a happy smile at his son.

            “Yeah, okay,” Lucien said. “Wait. You never offer to make me scrambled eggs unless you want to ask me to do something. You’re schmoozing, Dad.”

            Damien paused and smiled again at his son. “My clever boy, you’re growing too powerful for me. Yes, I wanted to ask a favor of you.”

            “What’s up? I still want the eggs, by the way. With cheese on them, please.”

            “Of course, baby.” Damien hummed as he started working on the eggs. “I wanted to know if you could help me find something to wear out tonight. I have a date tonight at six, and I want to make sure I don’t over or under dressed.”

            “Whoa, what? You have a date? With who?” Lucien asked in awe.

            “Robert Small,” Damien replied.

            “Fuck, Dad. You can do a lot better than that guy.”

            “Lucien, language.”

            “Sorry. Gee whiz, Dad. You can do a lot better than that guy.”

            Damien chuckled a bit as he cooked the eggs in the frying pan. “I don’t know. I think he’s very handsome and intriguing. Besides, even if it doesn’t work out, it won’t be the first time I’ve dated someone I wasn’t compatible with.”

            Lucien sighed. “Fine, okay. If he starts doing screwy shit, I’ll kill him.”

            Damien smiled at that and continued to cook contently. Lucien ate everything on his plate quickly before going up to his father’s closet with him to help him decide what to wear.

            “This, and this, and your black dress shoes. A tie would be too much for an Italian restaurant in this town.” Lucien decided, pulling out a deep crimson button-down shirt and black dress pants.

            “Will that be good enough?” Damien worried.

            “For a date with Robert Small that’ll probably be at Olive Garden? Yeah, it’s perfect.” Lucien replied.

            Damien nodded, trusting his son’s judgment. When he had about an hour until Robert would come, he changed into the outfit Lucien had picked out for him, brushed through his long hair, and washed his face before putting on his usual eye makeup. He then checked himself over in his bathroom mirror. The outfit was just slim fitting enough to be flattering, but not to the point where it was obscene.

            “Lucien, how do I look? Is it appropriate for tonight?” Damien asked as he walked down the stairs to where his son was relaxing.

            “You look good, Dad. Don’t worry.” Lucien replied. “I think I see his car out there. Have fun, kay?”

            “I will do my best,” Damien replied, feeling his heart start to pound when the doorbell rang. “You’re positive I look fine?”

            “A hundred percent, Dad. Go have your fun.” Lucien nodded, shooing his father away.

            Damien nodded and took a deep breath before moving to get the door. Robert looked like he’d showered, but he was still wearing his standard V-neck shirt, jeans, and leather jacket.

            “Hey, Dames. You ready to go?” Robert asked.

            “Yes, I am. Lulu, I won’t be out too horribly late, I promise.” Damien replied, turning back to his son who was texting on the couch.

            “Okay, Dad,” Lucien replied.

            “Please, no more than three friends over, if you invite any at all.”

            “Okay, Dad.”

            “There should be dinner left over from a few days ago in the refrigerator, if and when you get hungry.”

            “Dad, get out of here.”

            “I love you, darling.”

            “Love you, too.”

            Damien smiled before finally leaving with Robert and sliding into the passenger seat of the car.

            Robert had surveyed what he could of the house when he’d picked up Damien. Other than the colors and gargoyles, there wasn’t anything to chalk the other man as a vampire. It all looked like a unique flavor of interior design. However, it only made sense that anything suspicious would be kept hidden away. Even their bedrooms were probably a front. They probably kept their coffins in their basement. The leftover ‘dinner’ Damien had told Lucien about was probably leftover blood from their last victim.

            Damien shifted in his seat as Robert drove, feeling a bit awkward in the silence. Robert seemed deep in thought while he concentrated on driving. He wanted to break the silence, but he had no idea what to say that wouldn’t make it even worse.

            “So, I’ve been wondering for a while, but is Bloodmarch the surname you’ve had all your life? Or, did you change your last name somewhere down the line?” Robert asked suddenly as he drove.

            “Lucien came up with it when he was a child. I was changing my name anyways, and we decided to change our surnames, as well.” Damien replied honestly.

            Bloodmarch was not a normal last name for normal human beings. There had to be more behind it than just the fancy of a little boy, Robert decided. There was symbolism in that name.

            “So, was Lucien’s name originally Lucien, then? Like, you legitimately named him that?” Robert asked.

            “Yes. It’s a French name that means ‘light.’ It fits him very well, I find, because Lucien is the light of my life.” Damien replied with a soft smile to Robert.

            Robert’s train of thought paused at the reply. Could vampires be that empathetic? For a Cold One, the reasoning seemed very warm hearted and genuine. Well, Lucien would be part of Damien’s vampire coven because he was probably a vampire baby, too. It made sense for a vampire to be close to the members of his own coven. He glanced over at Damien, who was smiling happily at him. All his teeth looked perfectly normal. However, there was a chance that he’d filed down his fangs so they looked like regular canines. There were people out there who filed down their teeth as a fashion statement. Sure, those people were absolute fucking freaks, but they still existed. Perhaps a vampire would do it out of necessity for a disguise. Damien’s teeth were perfectly white, too. White, straight, and perfect.

            Could vampires use teeth whitening strips or get their teeth whitened? They’d have to have the same chemical make up as human teeth. He’d make a mental note of that as a plausible theory.

            “Here we go. Olive Garden: the Applebee’s for people who don’t hate themselves.” Robert announced once he’d parked the car. Damien smiled and laughed politely behind his hand. Damien’s laugh was pretty and melodic, like the ringing of bells. Robert decided that it only made sense that Damien would have a nice voice and laugh. Vampires were always attractive to humans, that’s how they lured in their prey. It was only natural that he’d want to hear that laugh again.

            Damien let Robert open the car door for him and the two of them walked into the restaurant together. They got seated at a little table right away, and Robert was grateful for the immediate view of Damien. He noticed a faint circular line around both of Damien’s irises. Did vampires have to wear contacts? He’d thought their senses would be so heightened that they’d have even better than 20/20 vision. Robert decided to make a mental note of that.

            “Hey, Dames, are you wearing contacts?” Robert asked curiously once the waitress had left them alone.

            Damien blinked and looked up at Robert from the menu. “Yes, of course. Did you think my eyes were naturally this hue?”

            Robert said nothing and watched Damien lightly touch his eye and drag the lens down to reveal a deep brown iris behind the false purple-pink ones.

            “Holy shit.” He finally breathed, not entirely sure what to make of Damien openly touching his eye and showing Robert his contact like that.

            “You did think they were natural,” Damien said with a small smile to Robert, his tone teasing.

            “Well, I don’t know. I don’t know your life.” Robert replied, a bit defensive.

            Damien laughed again, and it was just as pretty and perfect as the first time. Robert hid the smile that spread over his face behind his menu.


	2. Chapter 2

When the waiter came around with their little basket of breadsticks and a rather large bowl of salad. Their waiter looked young, a college kid who still had a few lingering pimples on his cheeks.

“Just tell me when to stop.” The kid said with a chipper smile before grating the mozzarella cheese over the top of the salad.

Robert had half a mind to stare into the waiter’s eyes and just make him continue grating for a good minute or two. The kid was totally at their mercy, and he wondered if one person could cause him enough stress to form one more pimple.

“That’s fine,” Damien said, halting the waiter’s grating.

“Alrighty! Are you two ready to order, or should I give you a couple more minutes?” The waiter asked them.

Damien looked to Robert. “I’m ready if you are, Robert.”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Robert nodded as the waiter pulled a little notepad and pen from his apron.

“Okay, and did you two want to sample any of our wines tonight?” The waiter asked after jotting down the orders.

“Nah, I shouldn’t. Not after last time.” Robert replied, making the waiter blink in shock and suddenly look a bit uncomfortable. “Also, I’m driving, so there’s that. Water, please.”

“I’m quite alright, thank you. I’ll just have water, as well.” Damien said politely to the waiter, who still seemed to be recovering from Robert’s reply.

Once they were alone, they both started to help themselves to the salad and breadsticks.

“How’s it taste?” Robert asked after Damien had taken a bite of his breadstick.

“It’s not bad. Granted, it’s no delicacy, but it is good.” Damien replied honestly.

“Not too garlic-y or anything?” Robert asked, looking up and into Damien’s eyes.

“No, It’s a fine amount of garlic,” Damien replied, taking another bite.

“That’s good. I don’t know how I feel about the salad dressing. It’s almost too zesty, you know? And I have no clue what the hell this is.” Robert said, picking up one of the whole peppers from his plate.

“I’m fairly certain that that’s a jalapeño, Robert,” Damien replied.

“Oh, huh. I’ve never had one of them before.” Robert hummed thoughtfully before biting it off the stem whole.

Damien’s eyes went wide in shock at the action. “Robert, are you alright?”

“It’s not that bad, actually. I thought it’d be a lot worse.” Robert replied with a small shrug, taking a drink of water. “Actually, you know what, it’s hitting me now. One of those things that burn your throat after it’s gone down.”

“Well, drink your water and hopefully the chill will soothe the ache,” Damien replied.

Robert nodded and did as advised.

The rest of the dinner went rather smoothly, the two of them chatting away and laughing contently together and sometimes laughing wholeheartedly with each other. In the end, Damien took care of the bill, and they walked out to Robert’s car together, continuing their conversation the entire drive back to the cul-de-sac. Robert parked his car in his driveway and walked Damien back to his house down the block, Damien holding onto his arm.

“Tonight was very enjoyable, Robert. Thank you.” Damien said once they’d arrived at his front door.

“No problem. Maybe we can do it again sometime?” Robert replied. He hadn’t been able to gather any evidence supporting his theory that would expose Damien as the undead creature he was. However, there were many more tests to run, and he’d only just started. He’d have to make a checklist when he got home.

“I’d like that. I’ll write you.” Damien nodded.

“You’ll write me? You mean like a letter?” Robert asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh, alright. I mean, sure, if you want to. I’ll try to write one back, but I’m not gonna promise that it’ll be any good.”

Damien burst into a happy grin at the reply. “I look forward to it.”

Robert smiled a bit back at him, a bit taken aback when Damien leaned in and pressed a soft, chaste little kiss to his lips. It barely lasted a second, but Damien pulled away with red cheeks and ears. Robert immediately wanted to grab the man by the waist and kiss him again.

Damn it, this was clearly some sort of vampire ploy to sink his claws into him. Damien was trying to earn his trust so that Robert would dance into his arms one day and never see it coming when the guy sank his fangs into his neck.

He couldn’t let Damien know he was on to him, though, and just cut it off there. He had to act natural and like everything was normal.

So, he took the other man by the waist and kissed him warmly, holding the kiss out as he lightly sucked at the other’s bottom lip. Damien’s entire face was red when they pulled away from each other, his lips a bit reddened as well from the kiss. The man opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

“Have a good night, Dames. Don’t stay up too late.” Robert hummed to Damien before finally pulling away and leaving to walk home.

Damien was left on his front stoop, his heart pounding hard in his chest as everything caught up with him. Robert had kissed him. Robert had promised he’d write him back. The thoughts made him start grinning, his entire chest feeling warm as if he could burst from pure joy alone.

He walked back into the house, still grinning as he took off his shoes and coat.

“Hey, how was the date?” Lucien asked from the couch where he was watching TV with Ernest.

“Wonderful. Oh, Lucien, it was like a wonderful dream. He said he’d write to me. Oh, my child, he writes! He was so funny and interesting and he kissed me on the mouth and I feel as if I’ve been blessed by the angels.” Damien gushed.

“You could have just said it went well,” Lucien replied, rather used to his father’s dramatics.

“I think I’ve fallen in love.” Damien sighed happily, wrapping his arms around his son in a hug.

“You’ve literally only been on one date with him.” Lucien sighed, looking to his younger friend for help. Ernest just scooted away a bit, offering nothing.

“One very magical date.” Damien hummed, resting his head on top of his son’s.

“If you start quoting Shakespeare or someone like that, I’m gonna lose my mind.”

Damien smiled softly and kissed Lucien’s cheek. “I’ll withhold myself for you. Ernest, are you hungry? Did you eat at all?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Ernest replied. “Hey, if you drank half of a Five Hour Energy, would you get two and a half hours of energy or five hours of half-assed energy?”

“Oh my god, you’re a fucking idiot.” Lucien groaned.

“Lucien, manners.” Damien hummed before moving to head up to his room to shower, wash his face, and change for the night. He sighed with relief as he took off his binder for the night and changed into his long, baggy night shirt and bath robe. He washed his face and took out his contacts, his wet hair wrapped up in a towel on top of his head.

“I’ve always wondered how girls do that.” Ernest hummed at the sight of his friend’s father.

“Do you ever, like, think before you speak or is it all just a roaring in your ears?” Lucien griped.

“Do you ever, like, realize how much of an overrated twink you are?” Ernest shot back.

“Boys, please,” Damien said from the kitchen when he could hear them start physically fighting with each other. “Ernest, isn’t your curfew coming soon? I’d rather not have you get in trouble with your father because you were bickering with my son.”

“Yeah, okay,” Ernest grumbled. “Goodnight, Damien. Eat shit, Lucien.”

“Goodnight, Ernest. Tell your father I send my best.” Damien replied to the boy, getting the front door for him and watching from the porch to make sure the boy got back to his house down the street safely.

In his own home, Robert took another long swig from his glass of whiskey as he tried to come up with a list of everything that could prove Damien was a vampire, as well as all the possible evidence he had already.

 

After a few more dinners with each other, they fell into a nice routine of having dinner together every Saturday night, whether that was at a restaurant or one of their houses. Every so often, they’d decide to get coffee or tea somewhere or try someplace new to eat.

Lucien didn’t seem to totally hate having Robert around the house. Granted, he didn’t seem too excited about it, either, but he rarely got super excited about much of anything.

“So, you wrote a bunch of books about cryptids and shit and now you’re living off the royalty money from all of them?” Lucien asked once while they two of them watched a paranormal hunting show on TV while Damien got ready for their night out.

“Pretty much, yeah. Hey, is your dad cool with staying out later than usual tonight?” Robert replied.

“Yeah. He’s pretty much nocturnal, you know.” Lucien replied.

“I thought so.”

Lucien had caught on to the way Robert seemed to be analyzing his father with every chance he got. He’d grown rather used to the rumors that he and his father might be vampires. Usually, it annoyed him, but there was something super amusing about baiting the grown man and leading him on further into his nonsense hole.

“Robert, are you ready?” Damien asked, emerging from the kitchen with a picnic basket and an unopened bottle of red wine.

“When you are, Dames.” Robert nodded, getting up from the couch.

“Don’t stay up too late, Lucien. There’s food in the refrigerator if you get hungry.” Damien hummed to Lucien, kissing his son’s cheek lovingly. “In case you’re asleep when I get back, good night. I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get out of here, crazy kids.” Lucien replied, lightly pushing his father off of him.

Damien smiled and took Robert’s hand, walking with him out of the house.

“So, where we off to tonight, Dames?” Robert asked as they walked together.

“My favorite spot in town, not too far from here,” Damien replied with a smile to Robert as he leads the man down the dark streets and to a local graveyard.

“The cemetery?” Robert asked.

“Cemeteries are connected to churches. This is a graveyard, my dear.” Damien replied, leading Robert through the graveyard and to a hill with a tree on top of it, sitting down in the soft grass and patting the ground beside him.

“Is it okay to have a picnic in a graveyard? It’s not disrespectful or anything?” Robert asked.

“Not the way I see it. I think the best way to send a person off is by celebrating their life, not mourning their loss. A passed loved one would not want you to spend too much time sad because they’re gone. They would want you to remember their life and continue living your own. We only have a finite amount of time until we pass on, it’s important to spend it in happiness.” Damien explained as he poured them both glasses of wine and settled in against Robert, letting the man wrap an arm around his shoulders.

“I guess that’s one way to see it. I like the way you think, Dames.” Robert hummed as he sipped his wine.

“The Victorians had a very strict code of etiquette regarding how one ought to mourn. The rules and guidelines were so extensive that many housewives had household manuals that outlined everything because the rules changed depending on who was being mourned and a person’s relationship to the dead.” Damien rambled. “Say you were a widow. You’d be expected to dress all in black and mourn for two years because that was the natural amount of time for a widow to mourn her lost husband. Children mourning parents or parents mourning children would mourn for a year, and the list continues.”

Robert smiled as he drank and listened to Damien talk about the Victorian era. He was happy the other man had come to feel comfortable enough with him to talk so openly about the Victorian Era. It was good that Damien was so comfortable around him. It made reaching his goal a lot easier.

“Damn, Damey. It’s almost like you lived back then.” Robert commented with a small smile to the other man.

“Thankfully, I live in 2017. I would not have made it far back then. You know about what happened to Oscar Wilde, do you not?” Damien laughed as he drank with Robert and ate the dinner he’d packed for the two of them.

“Uh, refresh my memory?” Robert replied.

“He was put on trial and imprisoned for sodomy and gross indecency. After prison, he was exiled from society and eventually died of meningitis.”

“All that cuz he liked butt stuff?”

Damien flushed a bit at the reply and coughed awkwardly. “Well, er, yes.”

“Wild. So, how do you know this much about the Victorian Era?”

“I minored in history in college, and researching the Victorian Era became a hobby for me.”

“So, what would the Victorians have thought of two men kissing in a graveyard in the middle of the night?”

Damien flushed a bit more and smiled. “Queen Victoria herself would have had a heart attack.”

“Sorry, Queenie.” Robert hummed before leaning over to catch Damien’s lips in a deep and rather passionate kiss that left them both breathless.

 Honestly, he didn’t know why he did it in the first place. He quickly decided it had been a good decision, though. Not just because Damien was a good kisser and, for a guy who blushed at the mere mention of sex, was rather talented with his tongue, but because it kept his charade going. Damien would continue trusting him and letting him in and he’d continue looking for any more clues about Damien’s vampiric nature.

That was all the justification Robert needed. He continued kissing Damien, feeling the other man’s hands move up so one was tangled in his hair and the other was cupping his jaw sweetly.

Damien let himself melt into the kiss, holding Robert close to himself and kissing him until he felt the other man’s hands start to push up his shirt and feel at his bare abdomen, inching ever closer to his chest and binder.

“Stop, stop.” He gasped, pulling away from the kiss and grabbing Robert’s wrists.

“Did I do something wrong?” Robert asked carefully.

“No, I’m just… I’m not comfortable with that yet. Please understand, I haven’t been with someone like this for quite some time.” Damien breathed softly, leaning his forehead against Robert’s. “The last person was Lucien’s other father.”

“That’s fine. Here, we’ll take it a bit slower.” Robert replied, pulling Damien’s shirt back down and smoothing it down over his abdomen.

Damien smiled at that and kissed Robert’s nose. “Thank you, Robert.”

Robert was a bit caught off guard by the little kiss and found himself grinning at the sweet gesture. It was only natural for Damien to be charming, otherwise, he’d never be able to lure in any prey. The butterflies in his stomach were one hundred percent not his own fault. Damien was just really, really good at being a vampire.


	3. Chapter 3

Robert was amazed by how much he’d come to like reading Damien’s letters. His written words sounded exactly like how he would speak and his handwriting was so neat and loopy, he’d almost thought it was calligraphy.

The letters were always flowery and rather fun to read. Damien wrote about how much he’d enjoyed their last date and looked forward to the next. After that, the letters tended to ramble, just like Damien tended to when he spoke. A couple tidbits about Victorian history here and there, snippets into the current events in their household, funny anecdotes, and then the same signature at the bottom of the last page.

His last letter had talked a bit about Lucien’s much-needed operation to have his wisdom teeth removed, followed by an anecdote on Damien’s orthodontic history.

‘Oh, Robert, I’m sure those doctors hate me to this day. I was always so bad at flossing and I never brushed well enough for them. I can’t ever step back into that Topeka orthodontics office with my dignity again,’ He’d written.

Out of curiosity, Robert consulted Google. Like other orthodontic websites, the office showed a few of their more dramatic before and after pictures. One picture from the early nineties showed a young teenager with super crooked teeth, so much that it looked like the kid’s canines were just a bit too long. The kid wore big, square glasses with thick lenses, had short raven hair, and deep brown eyes.

“Oh, fuck. Holy shit.” Robert breathed as he looked at the old picture of Damien. The more he stared at the face of the young child, the more he could see Lucien’s resemblance to his father. He didn’t pay much attention to the name listed underneath the picture, mainly because that name seemed so wrong when associated with Damien.

The teeth were clearly fangs that, through the art of medical science, changed and formed to resemble human teeth. That much was obvious. He finally had his proof. He printed out the picture.

“We did it, Betsey. Thanks for your help.” Robert said to the Boston terrier. Betsey looked up at him, snorted, and turned to scratch at one of her hind legs with her teeth.

Robert pulled on his shoes and leather jacket, leaving his house to head over to Damien’s.

“Hey, Luci! Is Damien home?” He asked when the teenager opened the door.

“Yeah, he’s out back having tea or something.” Lucien replied.

“Thanks, kiddo.” Robert said, ruffling Lucien’s dyed grey hair.

“Don’t touch me.” Lucien huffed, shutting the door and letting the man into the house, watching him walk through the house to the back glass door that lead out to the garden behind the house.

“Guess who.” Robert announced when he saw Damien out in the back, tending to the garden with a large black sunhat shading his face. He grinned when he looked up at Robert.

“Robert! I wasn’t expecting you.” He said, greeting the other with a soft kiss. “Had I known you were coming over, I would have cleaned myself up and put on something more presentable.”

“Don’t worry, you look fine, Dames. Can I ask you something?” Robert replied, watching the other man take off his gardening gloves and push them into the back pocket of his worn out, muddy jeans.

“What is it?”

“Well, I found this, and I wanted to know how long you’ve been hiding your little secret.”

Robert pulled out the picture from his pocket and unfolded it, showing Damien the photo of himself as a teenager.

Damien’s expression shifted, his eyebrows knitting together. “Robert, I don’t know what you mean. I’m transgender, that’s not much of a secret. That picture is from before I even knew I was a man, let alone before I started my transition.”

“I mean that you’re a vampire.” Robert replied to him. “You can stop playing dumb with me, Dames, you’re a vamp. Just admit it.”

“What? Robert, I am not a vampire. I am a human man.” Damien replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You’re a vampire who’s really fucking good at posing as a human, Damien. For the first time in the three months we’ve been together, I finally have solid proof.”

“You-what? You courted me for three months because you were trying to find out if I was a vampire?”

Robert blinked at the question. “We weren’t courting or dating or any of that.”

“Yes, Robert, yes we were! The dinners, the letters, the flowers, the kissing. That’s what people do when they’re dating! Was it all some sort of game to you? What am I to you, Robert Small, other than some cryptid you were trying to hunt?”

Robert watched as Damien got more and more angry with him. The sight of his angry face while wearing a sunhat was almost jarring.

“What’s more, you shouldn’t have gone looking for old pictures of me. If I want you to see pictures of me from before my transition, I’d show you myself! That’s something for me to show you when I’m comfortable enough with it. You do not get to go searching them out for yourself.”

“Look, Dames, I fucked up. I’m sorry.” Robert said softly to the other man.

“Did you ever actually love me, or was I just a game to you?” Damien hissed.

“I, well, I enjoyed your company.” Robert replied honestly.

“But it meant nothing to you.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Damien. You don’t know jack shit about me.”

“I suppose not. Get out.”

“What?”

“Get out of this garden. Get out of my house. Now.” Damien’s voice broke and he looked away from the other man.

Robert sighed and did as he was told, walking around the large black house and leaving. Had Damien actually loved him? Well, he supposed that it made sense. The guy probably hadn’t sent multiple letters and bouquets of flowers just to be polite. Damn, he’d really fucked up that time. He figured it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Damien watched Robert leave and sighed once he was finally alone in the garden, taking off his hat and rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand before sitting down in one of the chairs at the little table he liked to use for tea.

Lucien had heard his father yelling from inside the house and had watched the pair fighting. He ground his teeth when Robert had walked away, leaving his father alone and hurting in the garden. He stepped out of the house when he saw his father bury his face in his hands and his shoulders start to shake.

“Dad?” He asked softly, sitting down at the table next to him.

“Oh, Lucien.” Damien said softly, working quickly to wipe at his red, puffy eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you come out.”

Lucien said nothing and just wrapped his arms around his father, resting his head on the other’s shoulder.

Damien smiled softly at the affection and hugged his son back, cradling the boy close. “Thank you. My sweet little boy.”

“I love you, dad. It’ll get better, just like last time.” Lucien replied softly. “We’ll keep going. Us Bloodmarches are strong, right?”

Damien gripped Lucien a bit tighter at the memory of Lucien’s other father leaving the two of them after a bad fight. “I love you, too. We’ll get through this.” He agreed.

“You can go ahead and cry, you know. You really loved him.” Lucien said softly after a moment.

Damien nodded and started quietly crying as he cradled his son close to himself. “I’m getting too old for this. I really thought he would be someone special, someone I could have a future with.”

Lucien listened to his father talk between tears. His father never spoke about it much, but he knew how much the man ached for a serious, fairy-tale-esque relationship. The man was a hopeless romantic. He’d daydreamt about his future wedding with the boy almost countless times, often after watching a borderline shitty rom-com.

“You’re not that old, Dad. You’ve still got loads of time. You’ll find someone.” Lucien replied. “You’re only thirty-six. You’re not old.”

Damien eventually calmed down, hiccupping a bit. He sighed, pulling away to look at his son and stroke his hair before holding his face in his hands. “Lucien, you are my greatest creation.”

“Thanks, Dad. You’re pretty cool, too. Not in the actually cool way, but you’re a good dad.” Lucien replied.

Damien smiled at the sweet words and kissed Lucien’s forehead softly. “What will I ever do when you’re all grown up and live on your own?”

“Probably call me all the damn time.” Lucien replied.

“That’s true.” Damien hummed. His heart was still hurting, but the affection from Lucien made it hurt considerably less.

Lucien went through the actions he always did with his father when the man was hurting. He sat with him on their couch and looked through all their old photo albums with him, letting his father hold him close and gush over him and all their memories from his childhood. He listened to his father talk and talk about all the earlier memories he couldn’t remember anymore and silently vowed not to ever let anyone fuck around with his father’s heart ever again.

“Dad, how old were you when you had me, again?” Lucien asked curiously.

“I was twenty years old. I was fresh out of college when you were born.” Damien replied with a small smile to Lucien. “Say what you will about your other father, but at least he gave me you. He can’t be that horrid.”

“He’s still an ass.” Lucien replied.

“Perhaps, but I have you because of him. I couldn’t dream of having a better son.” Damien replied, kissing Lucien’s cheek adoringly.

Robert spent hours of the day and into the night drinking and poring over all the letters Damien had sent him, wondering how he could have been so stupid to miss all the neon bright signs the other had sent him about his feelings towards him. It was glaringly obvious that Damien had loved him.

So, Damien wasn’t a vampire. He was just a guy who he’d hurt really bad. Robert hated himself for it.

“Mary, what the fuck do I do? I fucked up with him. He was actually really cool and nice and I liked being with him. He hates me for sure.” He groaned into the phone at about two in the morning.

“Well, yeah, you fucked up. But that doesn’t mean it has to have all gone completely to hell.” Mary sighed tiredly. “Give him his space for a day or so. Give him some time. Then, do something really fucking special and romantic to say you’re sorry and you might stand a chance.”

“Okay. Something super romantic and special. What would be good for Damien?” Robert replied, trying to brainstorm options.

“Rob, it’s two in the morning. I can’t give you my best advice until after eleven in the morning.”

“Come on, Mare, I’m dying here. I really fuckin hurt him.”

“Alright, fine, Christ. It’s Damien, it’s not hard to figure out what he likes. Look into Victorian shit at the library, and flower meanings, and write a really fucking awesome letter.”

“That’s perfect, thanks. Have a good night, Mare.”

“I’ll try but that fucking toddler barely knows how to use the toilet, so it won’t be that great.”

Robert smiled a bit, clearing off his dining room table to start making a list of the things he’d have to do to figure out how to apologize properly to Damien.

 

As soon as the library opened the next day, Robert was there with a notebook, researching Victorian apology etiquette and jotting down notes. From there, he started jotting down notes on flowers and their meanings. He decided the letter would be best if it was handwritten. His only hurdle with it would be finding all the right words to get out his feelings properly.

Once he had all his notes, Robert went home to start working on the letter, a task that ended with at least six drafts in the trash can. He didn’t finish until late at night. His hand was cramped from writing, and he was pretty sure he’d wind up with some kind of arthritis from it.

Nevertheless, he folded the papers neatly and slid them into an envelope that he then addressed and stamped and stuck in his mailbox for the mailman to get the next day. It would give him a day or so to clean his house up and get the perfect bouquet of flowers and figure out what the best kind of tea would be. If Damien accepted his invitation to tea, he had until that Saturday afternoon to get all his ducks in a row.

“How can I help you, sir?” A chipper worker asked when he walked into the florists’ shop on Friday morning.

“Hey, I kinda pissed off my boyfriend and I’m trying to get out of the doghouse. I was looking online and I wanted to know if any of these flower meanings are accurate.” Robert explained, showing the woman the list of flowers and their meanings he’d written up.

“Orange lilies, red carnations, and tulips? Yeah, they look like good choices for someone trying to get out of the doghouse.” She replied with a nod and a small smile.

“Great. I’ll take a bouquet with all of them, then. Like, four of each.” Robert decided.

“Alright. Did you want a vase to go with them?”

“Absolutely. The most old fashioned, Victorian looking one you have.”

The woman looked up at him at that and bit her lip in thought. “I think we might have one. So, you’re that one goth guy’s boyfriend?”

“You know about him?” Robert asked, following her over to the vases as she looked for the perfect, most ornate and Victorian-looking one they had.

“Maple Bay isn’t that big of a town. Plus, he tends to stick out.” She replied honestly, pulling out a vase and showing it to Robert. “How’s this look?”

“Perfect. I’ll get it.” Robert replied, following the woman to the counter where she rang him up while arranging the flowers in the vase for him. “Also, do you know anything about tea?”

“No, not really. I don’t really drink tea.” She replied honestly. “You could try looking for recommendations at the Coffee Spoon.”

“Alright, sweet. Thanks.” Robert replied, sliding his credit card for the flowers and taking them out to his car once again. He brought the flowers home and put them in water before driving back to the little coffee shop.

“Heya, Mat!” He called as he walked into the quiet little shop.

“Hey, Rob. You want your usual?” Mat asked with a happy smile at his neighbor.

“Not today. I wanted your tea recommendations, actually.”

“Since when do you drink tea?”

“Since tomorrow afternoon. Look, I royally pissed of Damien and I’m trying my best here. Do you know what teas he likes?”

“A lovers’ quarrel, huh?”

“Did literally everyone know we were dating except for me?”

“Robert, you kissed him outside a lot. It was pretty obvious.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Robert ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh.

“Lucky for you, though, Damien really likes tea. I don’t think there’s any kind he doesn’t like. Not here, at least. He likes the fruitier ones.”

“Don’t we all?” Robert chuckled, looking at the tea menu written behind the counter. “What about the peach one? Does he like that?”

“Like I said, he likes them all.”

“Let’s get the peach one, then.”

Mat nodded and grabbed a tin of tea bags for the peach tea and rang Robert up. “Good luck, buddy.”

“Thanks. I gotta go home and clean all my shit now.” Robert replied.

“You sure you don’t want your usual to go?” Mat asked.

“Actually, I do want it. You talked me into it, you amazing salesman.”

Mat laughed and rang Robert up again before starting on his usual order of coffee. “Godspeed, Rob.”

“Amen.” Robert replied, taking the cup and the tea and returning to his car.

When he got home, he turned on his music, grabbed a large garbage bag, and started to clean his house. Thankfully, most of the mess was from empty bottles of whiskey or beer and dirty drinking glasses laying around. Though, vacuuming the dog hair off the carpets and furniture wouldn’t hurt much, either.

Once Robert had cleaned the main living area, he decided he was on a roll. With Betsey’s moral support, he continued on to clean the bathroom and his bedroom until everything was perfect and clean again.

“There, it’s like the Palace of Versailles in here. If the Palace of Versailles was a one bed, one bath.” He declared to Betsey with pride.

Betsey just stared at him, her tongue lolling out of her mouth. Robert liked to imagine that was her dog smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Damien popped a couple ibuprofen pills after returning home from work. After being borderline verbally abused by an elderly couple for the better part of an hour and having his hair tied up all day, he’d developed a large headache.

“Lucien, would you like French toast for dinner?” he called up the stairs to his son, only to get no reply.

With a sigh, he headed up the stairs and knocked on the door to his son’s room. The boy was playing his music loud like he always liked to do after school to unwind before starting homework.

“Yeah, Dad?” Lucien asked, opening his door.

“Would you like French toast for dinner, my darling?” Damien asked.

“Sure, that’d be cool. Oh, I put the mail on the dining room table, by the way. And you gotta sign something for me for Monday.” Lucien replied.

“Honey, did you lock another freshman in a janitorial closet again? You know how they tend not to like that.”

“You would’ve gotten a call if I had, Dad. It’s just some field trip shit.”

“Ah, alright. Honey, would you mind turning your music down a tad? I don’t want your ears to go bad.”

“Okay, okay. Oh yeah, the health teacher wanted to talk to you about some gay shit. I don’t know what, exactly. He said he’d send me home with a letter or something.”

“Alright. Why would he want to talk to me about that, though?”

“Dad. You’re a gay trans guy. That’s, like, half the acronym.”

Damien blinked and smiled a bit at Lucien, kissing his forehead. “I suppose you’re right. Do you have a lot of homework this weekend?”

“Yeah, no thanks to that AP US History class you told me to take. Remind me again why I couldn’t just take the regular history class?” Lucien griped, letting his father fawn over him.

“Because AP classes are good for your GPA and they’re free college credits,” Damien replied, pushing Lucien’s hair away from his face.

“The tests aren’t free. They’re, like, fifty bucks. They’re expensive fucking tests.” Lucien huffed.

“Language, Lucien. They might be fifty dollars, but they cost considerably less than college. If we can save money on college, I’d like to save as much as possible.”

“What if I don’t even go to college? You’ve been saving up all my life, but what if I just don’t go?”

“Well, you don’t have to go to a big university, honey. Personally, I’d like you to take a class or two at a community college, at least. No matter what your anti-establishment friends might say, a bachelor’s degree will earn you more money than just a high school diploma.”

Lucien sighed a bit and kept his arms crossed over his chest. “Whatever.”

Damien smiled softly and kissed Lucien’s forehead. “You have a couple years to decide what you want to do. Just give high school your all, for now.”

“Can I do my homework now?” Lucien asked.

“By all means,” Damien replied, letting Lucien retreat into his room.

Damien went back to the dining room, picking up the small pile of mail Lucien had mentioned, as well as the sheet he needed to sign. He skimmed over the words about the field trip to Boston that the kids would be taking, signing at the bottom of the sheet to agree that he wouldn’t sue the school if Lucien got hurt.

With that, he started looking through the mail, sorting out the junk mail and the bills until he got to one envelope that was hand addressed in familiar messy handwriting. He stared at his name on the envelope, wondering if he even wanted to open it. While Robert had hurt him, he’d be lying to himself if he thought his feelings for the man had faded at all.

He’d been seeing the man in everything. He couldn’t forget the sound of his laugh, the brightness of his genuine smiles, the way his voice got a bit growly when he was frustrated. He was seeing Robert’s face everywhere out of the corner of his eye. No matter how he tried not to, he always ended up thinking about Robert Small.

Finally, he sat down and opened up the envelope with a letter opener, pulling out the multiple pages of notebook paper that were covered front to back with the same messy handwriting.

The apology was long and rambling as Robert admitted to his wrongdoings as well as many of his other problems he had yet to start fixing.

‘You don’t have to forgive me if you don’t want to. I totally get that. But if you’ll be willing to hear me out, then please meet me at my place tomorrow at two. You’ve gotten my apology written, and I’ll gladly give it to you verbally, too.’ Robert wrote before signing the letter with his name.

Damien sighed and set the sheets of paper down, holding his head in his hand. He wanted to go. He wanted to see what Robert had planned to apologize to him. However, he knew how much of a hopeless romantic he was. If he went, he had no guarantee that he wouldn’t fall hopelessly in love with Robert all over again. He had no guarantee that Robert’s smile wouldn’t send him over the moon, or that he would walk out of Robert’s home without kissing him and imagining their future together. He wished love could be simple and easy like it had been when he’d been with Lucien’s other father.

After sitting and thinking it over for a while longer, he pulled the phone from his pocket to pull up Robert’s number.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Robert.’ He typed out before sending it to the other man. Robert replied right away.

‘You won’t regret it, Dames.’

Damien sighed and set his phone aside at that, turning on his own music as he worked, deciding against the Victorian classical pieces for a bit to listen to the classic rock he’d grown up with. The familiarity of Bon Jovi seemed to soothe him as much as someone playing with his hair did while he started working on dinner.

Lucien caught him singing and dancing along with the music as he worked in the kitchen. The teenager quietly pulled out his phone as the playlist shifted to an N’ Sync song, taking a few short videos of his father for his Snapchat and saving them to his phone. He always forgot that his father had been in high school and college in the nineties.

“Dad, everyone knows that Backstreet Boys were better than N’ Sync.” Lucien teased.

“Lucien, the people who genuinely believe that are also the people who believe in Scientology,” Damien replied with a small smile to his son.

Lucien laughed and sidled over to his father to help him finish with their food. “What all was in the mail?”

“Junk mail, bills, and one thing from Robert,” Damien replied honestly as he moved to set the table while his son took over cooking the French toast.

“Ew. What’d he want?” Lucien asked.

“To apologize to me and invite me to his home tomorrow at two,” Damien replied.

“Are you gonna go?”

“Yes, I am. I want to at least give him a chance to explain himself and apologize to my face.”

“If he hurts you again, I’m sending him a glitter bomb in the mail.”

“Do I want to know what that is, honey?”

“It’s kinda like a card with a little packet of glitter inside and I glue the thing shut so when he yanks it open, the glitter’s thrown everywhere. It’ll take months to get that shit out of his carpets.”

Damien sighed at the explanation. “That will only be a last case scenario, honey.”

“I really want to, though.”

“Lucien, I won’t have you recreating Hiroshima. If he surrenders, you are not to bomb him anyway, understand.”

“Fine. I’ll do it to Ernest or someone else.”

“Just make sure he provokes you first, so you’ll have a better excuse if you get in trouble.”

“Dad, everything Ernest says and does provoke me.”

“Well, find a really good excuse, then.”

“Deal. Can I send glitter bombs to those PTA moms who’re always talking shit about you?”

“Honey, I don’t want to give them any reason to hate us further.”

“They called you a tranny circus freak yesterday when you dropped me off.”

“Send the bombs, Lucien.”

“Yes.”

Damien kissed his son’s cheek lovingly before sitting down to eat with his son when the food was ready. He contently listened as Lucien told him all about his day at school, always loving it when his son started rambling. The boy could talk and talk when he let himself.

Lucien talked about his classes, but mostly about all the other kids.

“I don’t get it. Why do people say they’re gonna dance for the talent show and then just do a bunch of flips to music? Why not just call it gymnastics or something?” Lucien asked as he ate hungrily, taking another slice of the toast and coating it in butter.

“I couldn’t tell you, sweetheart. I remember my high school used to have a yearly talent show, too. I don’t recall anyone attempting acrobatics, though.” Damien thought aloud. “I do however remember a pair of boys throwing marshmallows into each other’s mouths from varying lengths. At the end of their act, one of them was in the auditorium’s balcony and he hit it to the stage with a tennis racket.”

“That sounds like an act of God.” Lucien hummed.

“I’m not entirely convinced that it wasn’t,” Damien replied. “Goodness, you’re hungry.”

“I’m a growing man, Dad.”

“Don’t remind me. It feels like just yesterday you were throwing tantrums in Target.”

“I was an amazing kid and I still am.”

“You reminded me of a Tasmanian Devil, darling, and for good reason.“

Lucien smiled at the reply as he ate. “Did you know that Tasmanian Devils are endangered cuz they keep biting each other and giving each other mouth cancer?”

“Did you learn this in biology today?” Damien asked.

“Yeah. They bite each other all the time and the cancer spreads and now they’re dying out.” Lucien explained.

“Well, I did not know that. Thank you for teaching me, darling.”

They spent the rest of the night relaxing as they usually did on Friday nights. Lucien let his father vent to him about the elderly couple he’d had to deal with at work while they watched trash TV together until ultimately deciding to change the channel to watch people attempt to wrap their minds around what a tiny home really was while simultaneously planning to live in one.

Lucien fell asleep against his father on the couch, snoring softly. The sight made Damien’s heart melt.

Moving carefully, Damien picked Lucien up into his arms, grunting under the weight of his teenage son. He took the stairs one by one until he’d finally arrived at Lucien’s bedroom. While he would have changed his son into his pajamas when he was younger, he decided against it this time around. Instead, he got the boy settled in his bed, plugged his phone into its charger for him, and tucked him in.

“Goodnight, my sweet baby.” He whispered, kissing Lucien’s cheek adoringly before turning out his light and closing his door for him.

Damien decided to pour himself a glass of red wine and ended the night by soaking in a hot bath with the wine, letting his mind wander. It almost always ended up wandering back to Robert.

After his bath, he changed into his long nightshirt and pushed on his glasses. He read quietly in his room from a book he’d tell anyone who asked was by an unpublished writer he’d found online. After he’d grown too tired to continue, he set the book aside, put his glasses away, and turned off the lamp by his bed.

The next day, his heart wouldn’t stop pounding in his chest, no matter how hard he tried to relax. He dressed nicely, like he had for all his other dates with Robert, telling himself that this was not a date.

When it came time to meet the other man, he kissed Lucien goodbye and promised to tell the boy all about everything that happened before he walked over to Robert’s house and knocked on the door. He was greeted immediately by the sound of a dog barking.

“Betsey, please!” Robert pleaded before moving to get the door, opening it up and smiling gently at Damien. “Hey, Dames. Come in.”

Damien reminded himself to strengthen his resolve when Robert smiled. The man would be mistaken if he thought he could just flash his pearly whites, call him by a pet name, and have him back on his arm. “Good afternoon, Robert.”

Robert felt his own heart racing. He couldn’t fuck this one up, not this one. He gently led Damien into his little kitchen that he’d tried his best to decorate like the inside of Damien’s house.

“Sorry if it’s not the most historically accurate thing ever. I could only get so much from the resources the Maple Bay Library had.” Robert said, rubbing the back of his neck when he saw how Damien’s eyes softened at the sight of the room.

“No, it’s lovely. It’s all wonderful. You did well.” Damien replied softly. Keeping his resolve was going to be harder than he thought. He looked at the vase of flowers on the table. Red carnations for love, pride, and admiration; orange lilies for passion; and tulips for a declaration of love. He felt like his heart was about to burst. “They’re lovely. I love them.”

“Good. They’re for you. I did my best.” Robert said with a small smile to Damien. “Go ahead and sit. I think the tea’s almost ready.”

Damien blinked at the reply and sat down at the table. Robert had put on a date he’d always dreamt of having. He wanted to take the man back right then and there, but his pride told him to hold out further, make Robert prove himself.

He snapped out of his trance when he heard the microwave beeping, looking over to see Robert take out a large liquid measuring cup full of water from it and pour it into a couple of coffee mugs with tea bags in them. Well, at least the man was trying.

“Thank you, Robert.” Damien said as Robert gave him one of the mugs.

“Careful, Damey, it’s hot.” Robert said as he sat down on the opposite side of the little table, reaching over to turn on the stereo that he’d set up with a CD of Tchaikovsky to play softly in the background. When it started to play Christmas music that wasn’t from The Nutcracker, though, he quickly turned it off.

Damien couldn’t help but start laughing behind his hand, partially glad that they were both as frazzled about the little date as the other.

“God, sorry about that. We’ll just go without the music.” Robert sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“We’ll manage without it.” Damien agreed with a soft smile to Robert.

“That’s the spirit.” Robert smiled back, relaxing at the sight of Damien’s smile. “I’m really sorry, Damien. I hurt you really bad and I never meant to. I’m really sorry that I lead you on to think we were dating without ever really acknowledging it myself. It was mean and it was fucked up to do. And, I’m sorry I found that old picture of you online. You’re right, that shit’s private. I’m sorry about everything. But, if you want to try again, I can be better. I swear to God, Damien, I’ll be better for you. I want to be a man you can count on and take home to your son.”

Damien listened to Robert talk as he sipped the tea. “Robert, if we’re going to do this again, you need to know that it must be serious. I’m too old to date for fun like I did in college. If we’re going to date again, it’ll be with the fact in mind that we could potentially be married.” He said, setting the mug down.

Robert nodded as he listened to Damien. “I get that. I think, if I could spend the rest of my life with someone like you, it’d be a good rest of my life. I’ve got a lot of baggage, though, Dames. My past isn’t picture perfect. I’m an alcoholic, and I don’t really have that great of a relationship with my daughter. But I want to try and be better. I want you to be proud of me.”

Damien smiled softly at the words and reached over the tiny table to rest a hand on Robert’s cheek. “I’m willing to try again with you, if you are.”

“God, yes. One hundred percent.” Robert replied, setting a hand over Damien’s on his cheek.

“However, I do have one condition.”

“Anything, Dames.”

“Go dancing with me.”

“Like, at a club?”

“No. There’s a ball in Boston coming up in a couple of weeks. I want to go with you.”

Robert blinked at the request. “Dames, I’ve never waltzed a day in my life.”

“I can teach you. Please, Robert, it’s always been a dream of mine to go to a ball.” Damien replied.

Robert knew he couldn’t say ‘no’ to those eyes. He’d told Damien he’d be better and basically become his Prince Charming. This was the perfect chance to put his money where his mouth was.

“Okay, I’ll go with you.” He agreed.

Damien grinned and got up from the table to go over to Robert and hug him tightly.

Robert smiled and hugged Damien tightly in return, basking in the other man’s warmth and the faint scent of old-fashioned cologne on his clothes and skin.

“Thank you, Robert. It means a lot to me.” Damien said softly.

“Anything for you, Dames. Anything for you.” Robert replied.

Damien scooted his chair to sit down beside Robert and happily talked with him while they drank their tea together.

When the little date had finished, they made plans to meet up again the next day so Damien could start teaching him how to dance, and then Robert walked him back to his home.

Despite telling himself that he wouldn’t, Damien let himself kiss Robert when they arrived at the front stoop of his house. He held the vase of flowers securely, letting Robert kiss him over and over.

Lucien ambled down the stairs to get food. When he caught sight of the two men from the window, he immediately lost his appetite and went back up to his bedroom.


	5. Chapter 5

Damien’s face was completely pink when Robert finally pulled away. He laughed and pressed their foreheads together.

“God, you’re cute, Dames. I’ll call you later tonight, okay? So we can buy those tickets online.” Robert hummed, letting Damien play with his hair.

“That sounds wonderful, Robert. I can’t wait.” Damien replied with a nod.

“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” Robert asked with a small smile.

“Yes, you will.” Damien smiled back.

“Awesome.”

Robert kissed Damien’s nose softly before finally pulling away from him and letting the other man go into his house and leaving to head off to his own. He smiled all the way home and sighed happily as he walked into his own home.

“Okay, Betsey. We’ve got a good chance with Bloodmarch. It’s time to commence Operation Get Your Shit Together.” He said to the Boston terrier staring up at him. He picked the dog up and held her on his lap as he went to the desktop computer in his bedroom. He found the local Alcoholics’ Anonymous group and made plans to start going to their weekly meetings, writing down the next meeting time on a slip of paper. Then, he grabbed his phone and started searching through the contacts until he found the one he was looking for. He sighed and took a deep breath.

“If I can do this successfully, Damien will be proud of me. I gotta make him proud, Betsey.” Robert said softly to the dog before tapping the contact and calling the phone number listed. It rang a few times.

“Hello?” A female voice asked on the other end.

“Hey, Val. It’s your old man.” Robert replied to her.

“Oh.” She sounded surprised. “Hey, Dad. What’s going on? Everything okay?”

“Yeah, things are just fine. I wanted to see how you’re doing. How’re you doing? How’s your girlfriend?”

“I’m fine, she’s as great as ever. Sorry, you don’t usually call. You sure everything’s okay?”

“Everything’s great over here, Val, and getting better. The Vet says Betsey’s kinda chubby, but nothing to be too worried about. I’m gonna start going to AA meetings starting tomorrow.”

“Holy shit, for real? Hey, good for you, man.”

“Yeah, thanks. I’m kinda seeing someone, too. You remember the goth neighbor?”

“Vaguely.”

“Well, I kinda kissed him like twenty times a couple minutes ago. I’m pretty sure he’s into me.”

“Oh damn. Are you into him?”

“Oh God, yes. He’s so fucking cute, Val. I love his face. He’s always smiling at me and he gets so blushy at the smallest things.”

“Aww, that’s cute. So you’re basically dating?”

“Kinda. Apparently, we’ve been dating for months and I only just figured that out a couple days ago. That didn’t make him too happy, so we kinda had a fight, but he came around today. He said that if we’re gonna make it work, I have to go to a ball with him in a couple weeks.”

“Dad, you haven’t danced a day in your life.”

“I know, but he said he’d teach me how. He’s gonna start teaching me tomorrow.”

“Well, good for you, dad. If you two get serious, you need to introduce him to me.”

“Will do. You’d like him, Val, he’s a sweetheart.”

“Well, maybe I can pop down in a month for Thanksgiving. Jess was gonna go back to her own family, anyway.”

“Yeah, that’d be great. We’ll plan everything out a little later.”

“Deal. Talk to you later, Dad.”

“You too, Val. I love you.”

“Love you, too, Dad.”

Robert set the phone aside as the call ended and hugged Betsey close to himself.

Damien felt like he was walking on clouds. Everything was perfect. As soon as he’d set the flowers on the dinner table, he went up to Lucien and gushed to his son about everything that had happened.

“And then he walked me home and kissed me many times outside the front door. He said he’d call me later tonight and come over sometime tomorrow.” Damien hummed as he finished up recalling everything. “Oh, how he makes my heart sing.”

“What the hell ever happened to playing hardball?” Lucien asked with a frown.

“Oh, well, I tried. Really, I did. But, he was being so sweet and he kept smiling at me and making me laugh. Try as I might, I simply can’t stay angry with him.” Damien sighed.

“Jesus, Dad, you had one job,” Lucien said, rubbing his forehead.

“I did give him a condition if he truly wanted me back,” Damien said, trying to get his son not to completely lose hope in him.

“What was the condition, Dad?”

“I told him that he needs to learn how to dance and take me to a ball in a couple of weeks.”

“Tha-that’s barely a condition. That’s just setting up another date.”

“Well, he said he doesn’t dance, so I’d have to teach him.”

“Oh my god, that’s literally just setting up a crap ton of more dates for the next two weeks. Literally, all you did was schedule more time to spend with him.”

“I fail to see what the problem is.”

“Dad, the point was that you’d make him work for you.”

“He will be working for me; he’s going to learn how to dance.”

“Oh my god…”

“I think things went swimmingly.”

“Whatever. Just stay quiet when you guys decide to fuck. Or do it in his house.”

Damien flushed bright red at that and shifted uncomfortably.

“Firstly, Lucien, language. Secondly, I think it might take a bit to get to... that point. Physical intimacy makes me quite anxious. I’ve only ever been able to make out with him before.” He admitted.

“Whoa, okay. Too much information, Dad. Talk to Robert about that or your therapist. Not me.” Lucien said, just as uncomfortable as his father.

“Right, you’re right. I’m sorry.” Damien said.

“Don’t worry about it. Just, like, be safe.” Lucien replied.

“Right. You, too.” Damien said with a nod. “Should you ever take a lover, I mean.”

“I will, Dad, no worries.”

Damien nodded, still blushing brilliantly as he moved to leave his son alone for a while. He read quietly in the library until his phone started to ring. He fished it out quickly, almost a bit disappointed when he saw it wasn’t Robert calling.

“Hello, Mary.” He said after answering the call.

“Heya, Dames. How are things, specifically things with Rob?” Mary asked.

“Things are going wonderfully. I really like him.” Damien replied honestly.

“I figured, I think half the cul-de-sac saw you two kissing earlier today. Chris is starting to ask questions and I think Joseph might be starting to bald prematurely because of it.” Mary chuckled.

“Oh, dear, really? I hope no one thinks less of me for it.” Damien worried.

“Nah, I think you guys are good. You know how people like gossiping in this neighborhood.”

Damien relaxed at that and sighed a bit. “Good, I’m glad. I really like him.”

“Like him, or like like him?”

“The latter.”

“Oooh, that’s serious.”

Damien smiled and laughed a bit, absently playing with his hair as he chatted with Mary in the library.

Lucien watched the next day as Robert came over to the house. The man only had to mention that he’d started going to AA meetings and Damien was in his arms, gushing about how proud he was of him. The pair left to go to the garden together where his father had set up a speaker with music on his phone.

“Alright. I’m going to lead for the sake of teaching you, and then we’ll switch.” Damien explained as he took hold of Robert’s hand and waist.

“If you’re teaching me the polka, don’t worry. I’ve seen The King and I, I know it.” Robert said with a small smile as he let Damien hold him close.

“Well, that’s very good. However, I was going to teach you the Viennese Waltz.” Damien replied.

“Oh, gotcha.” Robert nodded, following along awkwardly as Damien walked him through the basic steps.

“Trust yourself, Robert. Just look at me.” Damien instructed after a while of dancing while Robert had his head down watching his feet.

“I’m doing my best, Dames.” Robert sighed, letting Damien turn on the music before the man held him once again.

“You’re doing very well for a beginner, do not misunderstand me. You are doing very well.” Damien replied before they started the dance together, gliding and spinning around the garden.

Robert kept his eyes on Damien’s as they danced together, getting a better feel for the dance despite all the times he’d accidentally stepped on the other’s toes. “Do you think we should try switching roles now?” he asked after a bit.

“I think we could, yes,” Damien replied, letting Robert change the positions of their hands and pull him in close by the waist.

Then, they were dancing again. Robert was visibly becoming more and more comfortable with the dance as they practiced into the evening. He started trying to integrate spinning Damien into the basic steps and lifting him up and spinning him around. The lift left Damien laughing happily as they went back to spinning around and dancing together.

“Hey, Dames, we should learn the tango,” Robert commented after they decided they were finished for the night.

“I don’t think I’ve ever danced the tango before.” Damien chuckled as they both got water and wound down for the night.

“It’d be hot as hell, I think.” Robert hummed.

“Well, perhaps tomorrow night,” Damien replied. “Do you want dinner, Robert?”

“I’d love some,” Robert replied with a nod, following Damien into the kitchen.

Damien pulled his hair up as he cooked, letting Robert help him make the vegetable stir-fry.

“Alright, I’m going to let you continue stirring this and I’m going to get Lucien to set the table.” Damien hummed, kissing Robert’s cheek.

“Go right ahead, Damey. I’ve got this down solid.” Robert nodded.

Damien smiled at Robert before heading up to Lucien’s bedroom and knocking on the teenager’s door. He waited for Lucien to open the door, smiling sheepishly at him.

“He’s eating with us, isn’t he?” Lucien guessed after reading his father’s expression.

“Yes, he is. Please, Lucien, be nice. I know you’re still wary of him, but please keep the peace at dinner.” Damien replied to his son.

Lucien frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “He hurt you. Why should I be nice to him?”

“Because I really like him and I’ve forgiven him. Lulu, please. We’ve had such an amazing and magical night; I want it to end well.” Damien replied to the teenager.

“I’ll keep the peace if he does.” Lucien agreed reluctantly.

“Thank you, my darling. Now, can you please come help set the table?” Damien asked, kissing the teenager’s forehead.

“Yeah, okay.” Lucien nodded, following his father down to the dining room and kitchen to do as he was told.

That dinner was awkward, to say the least. Lucien hated every second of it and didn’t speak much when Damien or Robert asked him questions to get him talking. Robert had hurt his father bad, and now they wanted him to go along with everything and accept Robert as an honorary member of the family? Hell no.

Lucien especially hated the dopey smiles his father kept giving Robert as they talked and Robert openly flirted with him at the dinner table. He could have sworn there was some sort of etiquette against that sort of thing. He wished there was. Maybe that way, he wouldn’t have to sit and watch his father smile, blush, and laugh behind his hand like life was some horrible Nicholas Sparks novel.

He’d seen all of this before. His father had a bad habit of falling in love hard and fast with virtually anyone who could make him smile. Sure, Damien hadn’t been in a serious relationship since he’d left his other father, but there had been other men before Robert who’d come along, make Damien smile and fall in love, and then move on when they couldn’t get into his pants. Since his other father had left, he was the only constant in Damien’s life, and he was sure that Robert Small wouldn’t be the one to change that.

He watched in disgust and silent anger as the pair hugged and kissed each other goodnight, but he said nothing.

“He’d better not stay for dinner tomorrow night,” Lucien grumbled as soon as Robert had left and the front door had shut.

“Lucien, please.” Damien sighed. “I really like him.”

“You really liked the last guy, too, and he cheated on you and made you a sobbing mess,” Lucien replied with a frown to his father.

“Robert’s different from him. He’s genuine, and he’s not pushing me into anything. He’s sweet and patient and he cares about me.” Damien replied defensively.

“That’s what you thought about everyone else, Dad. You always do this. You always think you’ve finally found your Prince Charming, and it’s always some asshole who breaks your heart.”

“What if this time he is my Prince Charming, Lucien? I can’t live my life not trying and wondering what would have happened if I had. What if I’ve finally found him, my other half, my soul mate, my life partner? I can’t just let this chance pass.”

Lucien fell silent at that and sighed a bit. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you? You’ve fallen in love with Robert Small.”

“Yes. I love him very much. I’ve loved him for at least a month now.” Damien admitted.

“Jesus, Dad….”

“Please don’t be mad at me, Lucien. I know you mean well. My sweet baby just wants to look out for me, but I’m a grown man. I can fall in love if I want to.” Damien said, gathering Lucien into a tight hug and smiling as his son hugged him back.

“I’m gonna keep an eye on him. You know that, right? I’ll beat his ass if he tries anything.” Lucien said as he held his father tightly.

“I know, baby, and I love you.”

“Good. Go take your binder off, you’re gonna break a rib or some shit if you keep it on for too long.”

Damien laughed and left to do as he was told, going up to his bedroom to change out of that day’s clothes and stretching out once he’d taken the binder off. He washed his face with Lucien that night and the pair went to bed earlier to prepare for school and work the next morning.

The next day, Robert almost felt his heart stop when he came over and caught Damien in his work uniform. It wasn’t something he was used to at all, but he quickly decided he loved it. Especially the big square glasses he’d probably had since the nineties that rested in front of a pair of deep brown eyes.

“Robert. You’re earlier than I’d expected. I would have changed into something… better.” Damien sputtered nervously, pulling his hair down from the ponytail it had been in.

“God, no. Don’t even worry about it, Dames. You look good like this too.” Robert replied with a smile to the other.

“No, I don’t. It’s boring, I’m boring.” Damien replied, letting Robert hold his shoulders and look him over.

“Oh, give me a fucking break. You, boring? That’s the biggest lie ever, Damey, right in front of the Illuminati not existing and Scientology not being a cult.” Robert replied. “Holy shit, you’re adorable.”

Damien felt his heart pound in his chest, letting Robert cup his cheeks and hold his face in his hands. “Thank you, Robert. You’re very, very handsome.”

Robert smiled at the compliment and kissed Damien’s nose before slipping his glasses and curiously putting them on his own face.

“Holy shit. Oh, my God. I can’t see anything.” He said, looking around in the glasses. “You live like this?”

“My contacts are toric lenses and prescription. Bad astigmatism runs in my family. It’s a miracle that Lucien hasn’t developed it.” Damien said with a small laugh behind his hand.

Robert pushed the glasses back onto Damien’s face, accidentally missing his aim and poking the other man in the ear. Damien just laughed again and reached up to help put the glasses back on his face. When Robert kissed him, he kissed back adoringly and hugged the man close against himself.  

Lucien glanced out the window and paused to watch his father hugging their neighbor and resting against his shoulder. He made eye contact with Robert and sighed a bit before using his pointer and middle fingers to point at his eyes and then point them at Robert. Robert gave him a shit-eating grin before holding Damien’s face and kissing him deeply.

Lucien wrinkled his nose and quickly looked away and went along into the kitchen to find food, trying his best to forget the sight of his father making out with someone. He was pretty sure he’d be scarred for the rest of his life.


	6. Chapter 6

“You sure I look good like this?” Robert asked, letting Damien dress him in what he’d been assured was a historically accurate Victorian suit.

“You’re to die for, Robert,” Damien replied as he gelled the other’s dark hair back from his face.

“Can’t say I’m used to wearing pants like this. Are they supposed to go up to my belly button?” Robert hummed.

“They’re high-waisted, yes,” Damien replied, finishing with Robert and kissing his cheek lovingly.

The pair had gotten a hotel room for the night, neither of them wanting to drive home late at night after the ball. Robert had insisted on getting a room in the swanky hotel across the street from the ball. The worst thing would be to go to a nice ball and then go back to bed in a motel where they could never be too sure whether someone had ever died there. Damien, for sure, deserved better.

When it was time, Robert wrapped an arm around Damien’s waist, grabbed their tickets and room key, and walked with him across the street to the convention center. He quickly figured out that Damien had been right to dress them both in ornate Victorian clothes. All of the other guests were dressed similarly for the ball on the weekend before Halloween.

Robert gave the tickets to the usher at the door and walked in with Damien. As soon as they were inside and ushered into a huge ballroom, he suddenly realized that he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He’d gotten used to ballroom dancing in Damien’s backyard, but it was totally different when they were in a room with a couple hundred other people, an actual orchestra, and actual people walking around with platters that held glasses of champagne that probably wasn’t from Costco.

“Dames, I…” Robert started, stopping when he looked over at Damien.

Damien was smiling wide, like a child at Disney World. There was something about his makeup under the low light of the room that made Robert’s words catch in his throat. It was like the guy was born to stand in that room. The lights gave his fair skin a warm glow and his perfectly curled hair a shine that made it look like it was made of silk. Robert had never thought about what a goth angel might look like, but he figured he had his answer now, either way.

“Robert, this is perfect! Oh, it’s all so lovely!” Damien gushed, holding onto Robert’s hand tightly.

“Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.” Robert hummed in reply.

When the music started, they took to the center of the dance floor and started dancing together. Robert kept his eyes on Damien’s face as they danced together. He remembered all the steps and rhythms to every dance Damien had taught him and contently talked with Damien as they danced together. After each dance, he kissed Damien on the nose, cheeks, or lips and made the other man grin and laugh happily.

“God damn, Dames. You are easily one of the prettiest people in here.” Robert hummed happily when they took a break from dancing to eat a couple of the chocolate hors d’ouervres provided to attendees.

Damien paused in eating a chocolate covered strawberry to cover his mouth while his cheeks flushed sweetly. “What about you, my dear?”

“That’s why I said ‘one of’ them.” Robert laughed, leaning over and pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

“I love you, Robert.” Damien hummed without much thought, his eyes widening when he registered what he’d said.

Robert blinked at the sudden confession. He wasn’t used to meaningful relationships with lots of emotion involved at all. All his previous relationships had been driven by sex until they finally died out and moved on. Now, Damien was sitting there looking better than any human had the right to, adoring him, and telling him he loved him. It was like his life had turned into a cheesy romance movie, but oddly, he didn’t mind.

“You know what, Damey?” Robert asked with a small smile, reaching over to grab Damien’s hand. “I think I love you, too. I really think I do. You’re special to me.”

Damien smiled brightly at the sweet reply and held Robert’s hand tightly, kissing the back of it gently. Robert smiled and moved to sit next to Damien at the little table, holding the other man close to himself.

“God damn, you’re perfect.” Robert hummed, rubbing Damien’s arm while they ate together.

“Speak for yourself, Robert Small,” Damien replied, taking a bit of icing from Robert’s cupcake and dotting it on the tip of the other man’s nose.

Robert smiled and laughed at the reply, crossing his eyes to look down at the icing on his nose. “Hey, what am I to you? Are you trying to play with me at a place like this?” He asked teasingly.

Damien grinned and laughed happily behind his hand, nodding to Robert.

“Damien, oh my God. You come over here and clean this.” Robert laughed, pointing at his nose.

Damien smiled and silently leaned over to gently lick the tip of Robert’s nose before kissing it.

“I don’t know what I expected, but that wasn’t it.” Robert said with a small smile to the other man. “Save the kissing and licking for later, though. I’m not mad at it.”

Damien flushed at the insinuation and quietly finished his strawberry, keeping close to Robert and walking with him to go back to dancing as the orchestra finished that song and moved onto the next one.

They danced until the ball came to an end, eating a bit more every so often. When it was time to leave and walk back to their hotel room, both of them had aching feet, but they were still smiling.

Robert had an arm around Damien’s waist and was snuggling him close in the elevator up to their floor that was filled with other people who’d gone to the ball. They squeezed out when the doors opened to their floor and happily walked together to their room, unlocking the door and letting themselves inside.

Robert grinned once they were all alone and took off his shoes with Damien before starting to kiss him warmly, starting with his lips and brushing his hair back to start kissing along his jaw and down his neck.

“Ah, Robert…” Damien hummed with a smile, craning his head to expose more of his neck to the other man. When Robert started working on taking off all the layers of clothing on his torso, he didn’t stop him.

Robert smiled as he took off each layer of clothing until Damien was in front of him in his binder, trousers, and underwear. He then went back to kissing the other man’s lips.

Damien took over leading the kiss, slowly untying Robert’s cravat and unbuttoning his vest and shirt, discarding each layer on the floor along with his own. He sucked lightly on Robert’s bottom lip as he gently unbuttoned and pushed down the other man’s trousers.

“You know, Dames, once we both have our pants off, you’re about to cross the point of no return. You sure you wanna do this?” Robert asked between kisses, his own hips on Damien’s hips.

“I love you, and I want you. I want this, Robert.” Damien replied with a nod.

“Awesome, I’ll get the lube and a condom from my suitcase if you wanna wash your face or something,” Rob replied.

Damien nodded and kissed Robert once more before retreating into the bathroom and turning on the lights. He took off the makeup on his face and washed it rather quickly before he took out his contacts. He made sure his hair was perfect, brushed his teeth, and considered using a bit of the hotel’s floral scented body wash to wash his thighs, wanting to be perfect for Robert. His heart was pounding hard in his chest, and he walked out of the bathroom, both nervous and excited.

Robert was lounging on the bed, looking to Damien like an Adonis, a bottle of lube and a condom ready to go on the bedside table.  The man’s tanned skin looked heavenly in the low light of the room. Damien bit his bottom lip and walked over to the bed, climbing on and kneeling next to Robert.

“Here you are, baby. God, you’re so handsome.” Robert hummed, kissing Damien warmly.

Damien relaxed into the sweet kiss and ran his hands down Robert’s chest, admiring his chest and the smattering of hair on it. “You’re very handsome, too, Robert. You’re a very handsome man.” He hummed softly as he let Robert start to kiss his shoulder while rubbing his sides.

“How are we doing this? Do you want to take off your binder, or are you not comfortable with that? I just wanna make sure you can breathe, you know?” Robert asked as he kissed at the base of Damien’s neck and his collar bones.

“Is…is it alright if I take it off?” Damien asked hesitantly. “I really should take it off. I’ve had it on for too long today already.”

“Then go right ahead, Dames.” Robert hummed, letting Damien scoot back while he unclasped the binder and pulled it off over his head, his arms going up to cross over his chest.

“I’m sorry I don’t have quite the perfect body for you, Robert,” Damien said softly.

“You do, Damien. Any body you have is a perfect one.” Robert hummed, gently taking hold of Damien’s hands and pulling his arms down from his chest. It didn’t take him long after that to have Damien laid down on the bed while he started kissing and leaving little hickeys down his torso.

Damien quickly melted into the bed and into Robert, eagerly clutching the other man close as they became one.

After they’d both finished, Robert let Damien leave the bed to go to the bathroom quickly. The other man returned in a minute or so, and Robert took him into his arms almost immediately, snuggling him close.

“I love you, Damien Bloodmarch.” Robert hummed happily as he snuggled the man close.

“I love you, too, Robert Small,” Damien replied with a smile, hugging Robert close and tangling their legs together.

They talked together quietly until finally falling asleep in each other’s arms, their legs tangled up with each other’s.

When they woke up with extra time before the hotel started serving its complimentary breakfast, Robert got Damien’s okay and dove under the sheets and between his legs with a big grin on his face.

Damien was walking funny when they finally got out of bed to get dressed in their clean clothes and go down to the breakfast area of the hotel and eat together. Robert was almost tempted to lift Damien into his arms and carry him around so he didn’t have to limp around, but he knew Damien would never let him, at least not in public like that.

They ate contently before going back up to their room to pack their things, check out of the hotel, and head back out to Damien’s car.

“So, Damey. What’re your plans for Halloween? You and Lucien doing anything special?” Robert asked as he got comfortable in the passenger seat, letting Damien drive them back to Maple Bay.

“I think Lucien wanted to carve our pumpkins later this afternoon. I like to save the seeds and salt and roast them in the oven.” Damien replied with a happy smile to Robert.

“That’s nice. I still gotta get candy for all the kids in the neighborhood. I feel like Joseph’s kids are gonna shank me if I don’t give them a Milky Way.” Robert hummed. “Oooh, let’s stop for coffee quick.”

“Alright, I suppose we can.” Damien hummed, driving into the coffee and donut shop’s drive through.

“Hell yeah. Now America’s runnin’.” Robert hummed, letting Damien order them a couple of pumpkin spice lattes for the drive home. “You know, I wish these things would be freed from the label of the Basic Bitch Drink. They’re pretty good.”

Damien sipped his own drink as he drove back to Maple Bay with Robert. “Robert, I don’t think anyone will ever decide that you are, in fact, a basic bitch, regardless of what you drink.”

Robert laughed at that and found a radio station to play classic rock in the background. “What if I started wearing those black Victoria’s Secret yoga pants? The ones that do crazy shit to your ass. What would you do?”

Damien paused at the question and his cheeks turned bright pink. “I-I would rather like that, actually.” He admitted softly.

Robert laughed again and reached over to rub Damien’s shoulder. “You don’t have to be too bashful about that kind of stuff anymore, Dames. We’ve both seen each other naked.”

“That doesn’t seem to be stopping it, though,” Damien replied.

“I think your shyness is cute. You’re so fucking adorable, Dames. It’s barely legal, I’m pretty sure.”

Damien smiled at that and glanced over at Robert as he drove. “Oh, this is a good song.” He hummed, turning up the volume of the radio.

“You like Kansas?” Robert asked in awe, watching the other man.

“I suppose it is rather unexpected of me. This is the music I grew up with, after all.” Damien admitted with a small smile.

“Pull over, I wanna have sex with you again,” Robert said.

“Robert!” Damien laughed, his face flushed again.

“Sorry, but God. You’re too perfect and you just keep getting better. I’m in seventh Heaven here, Dames.” Robert hummed.

Damien smiled at that and started to contently sing along with the song, patting the steering wheel in time with the rhythm. It didn’t take Robert long to start singing along with him.

Robert smiled as the song ended, laughing happily.

“Thank you for sharing those minutes with me, Robert,” Damien said with a wide grin at the other man.

“Don’t mention it, baby,” Robert replied with a smile to Damien, taking hold of the other’s hand when he let go of the steering wheel and held it out. “We gotta take more road trips, Dames. You and me, the open road, hunting a sasquatch or something.”

“Perhaps you’ll find yourself an actual vampire.” Damien mused, smirking over at Robert.

“Maybe. I might not have caught a real vamp, but I caught an angel, so I think I did pretty good.”

Damien flushed brightly at that and smiled as he intertwined their fingers together.

Robert held onto Damien’s hand contently, gently rubbing the other man’s knuckle with his thumb and continuing to happily chat and laugh with him as they drove back into Maple Bay. Damien let Robert out at his house, kissing the other man warmly goodbye.

“I’ll call you, or write you. I promise.” Robert hummed to Damien, linking their pinkies together. “I’ll probably end up texting you tonight.”

“I’ll look forward to all of the above,” Damien replied with a smile, hugging Robert tightly and kissing him warmly. “I love you, Robert.”

“I love you, too, Damien,” Robert replied, pulling him and looking over to see Lucien waiting in his neighbor’s driveway. “I think your kid’s getting impatient.”

“That’s nothing new.” Damien laughed, looking over to where Lucien was standing. He got out of the car to help Robert pull his suitcase out from the back hatch. They finally kissed goodbye, both reluctant to leave each other, even if they lived about a hundred feet away from each other.

Damien got back into the car after seeing Robert walk into his house and get immediately attacked by Betsey. He drove into his own driveway and got out of the car, hugging Lucien happily and kissing his forehead.

“Oh, I missed you, sweetheart.” He hummed to his son before pulling away and getting his own little suitcase from the back of the car.

“How was the ball thing?” Lucien asked curiously, walking back into the house with his father.

“It was amazing. Last night was magical and perfect, just like everything I’d imagined. We danced all night long, and then walked back to the hotel and… slowly wound down for the night.” Damien gushed, choosing his words carefully so he didn’t upset his son. “I told Robert that I love him and he told me that he loves me, too.”

Lucien listened, catching onto what his father was trying to keep discreet about the night before. He frowned softly, deciding that he’d keep an eye on Robert, in case the man attempted to leave soon, now that he’d successfully slept with his father.

“Well, that’s cool, I guess. Can we carve the pumpkins now?” Lucien hummed.

“Of course, Lulu. Can you put the table cloth and start setting up while I put this in my bedroom?” Damien replied with a smile to his son.

“Sure thing, Dad.” Lucien nodded.

“Thank you, my darling baby.”

Lucien let his father press a kiss to his forehead again before watching the man head up the stairs. He almost gagged when he noticed the slight limp in the man’s step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They were singing Carry On My Wayward Son, if anyone wanted to know


	7. Chapter 7

“Gracious, Lucien, be careful!” Damien gasped when he saw his son brutally stab the carving knife into the pumpkin.

“I gotta cut out the eyes somehow, Dad,” Lucien said with a shrug as he started working on carving out the design he’d made on his pumpkin.

“You can carve a pumpkin without acting like it murdered your family in front of you, sweetheart.” Damien sighed as he finished scooping out the insides of his own pumpkin.

“Maybe, but this is more fun,” Lucien replied.

Damien smiled softly at his son and leaned over to kiss the shaved side of his head. “Please be careful, honey. I don’t want you to stab or cut yourself.”

“I’m always careful, Dad,” Lucien replied simply as he continued working.

Damien worked carefully by Lucien’s side as they carved their pumpkins together, glancing over at the teenager every so often. It felt like only yesterday Lucien was squealing at the feeling of the insides of the pumpkins and clinging to his leg, begging, ‘Daddy, Daddy! Do it for me!’

Somewhere along the line, Lucien had started enjoying the slimy, squishy feeling of the inside of pumpkins. Evidently, he’d also developed an urge to treat his pumpkins rather violently while carving them, too. He’d traded in trick-or-treating for Halloween parties with his friends and going out to a haunted hayride that was held just outside town. At least he still liked dressing up with his friends at school.

When Lucien had finished his pumpkin, the boy complained when Damien went to get the camera.

“Dad, you do this every year,” Lucien said as his father came back with the camera.

“Yes, and I’m not missing this year. I won’t be able to take pictures with you like this for much longer, Lulu.” Damien replied with a small smile at his son.

“Dad, don’t start crying. I’m only a sophomore.” Lucien sighed, knowing the glassy look in his father’s eyes.

“I know, but, you’re getting so big so quickly. My little baby’s turning into a young man, and I’m having trouble keeping up.” Damien replied, feeling the tears prick at his eyes and start to spill over.

“Dad…” Lucien sighed as his father started to cry, moving over to the man and wrapping his arms around him. “It’s okay, Dad. I’m not going anywhere for a while.”

Damien hugged Lucien back and kissed his cheek lovingly, stroking his hair adoringly. “I know. I’m being ridiculous.” He sighed, pulling away after a bit and wiping at his eyes.

“You’re not ridiculous, Dad. Emotional as hell, yeah, but not ridiculous.” Lucien replied. “Come on, let’s just get that picture.”

Damien nodded and turned on the camera while Lucien picked up his carved pumpkin and held it in front of himself. He smiled wide for the camera, just as he did every year for his father.

“That’s perfect, sweetheart. Thank you.” Damien hummed as he looked at the image on the screen of the camera’s back, showing it to his son.

“That’s another one for the albums, alright.” Lucien agreed, taking their pumpkins out to the front steps of their house.

Damien set to work cleaning up and then washing off the pumpkin seeds so they could be roasted in the oven.

“What’s up next on the Halloween prep checklist, Dad?” Lucien asked as he came back inside the house.

“Well, we’ve carved pumpkins, I have the oven preheating for the seeds, we have the candy already, and I don’t think this house really needs decorating. I think we’ve done everything we need to.” Damien said with a small smile to Lucien.

“We should decorate the house, anyway. We can make it kinda look like the Christiansen’s.” Lucien said with a smile. “We can get one of those signs for the front door with a Bible verse on it or something.”

Damien smiled and laughed behind his hand at the thought. “Honey, I don’t want to make them mad. I like the Christiansen’s.”

“Joseph’s always saying weird, passive-aggressive shit to your face about literally everything you do.” Lucien pointed out.

“Well, I like Mary and all the children, and I don’t want to start anything with Joseph that goes beyond passive-aggressive comments here and there,” Damien said to Lucien with a small smile.

“Come on, Dad, it’ll be funny.” Lucien pleaded.

“Lucien, I don’t feel comfortable doing it,” Damien replied.

“So, you wanna hear Joseph say something like, ‘Well, gee, Damien! Your house is ready for Halloween all year long!’ and not fight back?”

Damien smiled a bit at his son’s impression of their neighbor. “Lucien, trust me, I’ve heard worse things about nearly every aspect of our lifestyle.”

“Then, when are you gonna start fighting back?” Lucien asked with a small frown.

“Lucien Alexander, the answer is no. You might be sixteen and ready to start flinging Molotov cocktails, but I’m thirty-six. When you’re my age, you learn to leave things be and continue on with your day.”

Lucien shut up when he heard his middle name. There was nothing he hated more than people picking on him or his father for the way they lived.

“I don’t like people thinking they can walk over us all the fucking time,” Lucien said softly.

Damien sighed and pulled the teenager in for a hug, holding him close. “I know, darling. I know it’s hard. I was young and angry once, as well.”

“Even your own family likes to walk all over you when they talk to you.” Lucien huffed as he hugged his father back and held onto the soft fabric of his shirt.

“Well, my whole family’s rather Catholic. You can see why they wouldn’t completely agree with the way I live.” Damien smiled softly. “I’m just happy that they don’t treat you the same way. Your uncle Michael calls you all the time. He loves you.”

“Uncle Mike wears khakis,” Lucien said, wrinkling his nose.

Damien smiled and laughed. “Yes, and tube socks. Despite the horrid way he dresses, he is good to you.”

“I guess….” Lucien sighed, pulling away when the oven beeped at them.

Damien looked over at the oven before kissing Lucien’s forehead. “Don’t worry about me too much, sweetheart. We’ve come this far, we’ll be alright.”

Lucien nodded, watching his father put the seeds into the oven to be roasted.

 

Robert yawned as he set the ungodly large bags of candy on the counter at the little drugstore, along with a cold bottle of flavored water. He figured if he could find another taste he could get addicted to, it would help take the edge off not drinking. Near the register, he spotted a small stuffed bat holding a little heart that read ‘I’m batty for you!’. That was right up Damien’s alley. He picked it up and added it to the purchase.

He could already see Damien’s face when he gave it to him. The man would gasp and beam brightly at him. He’d say something like, ‘Oh, Robert!’ and hug him tightly. Then, he’d worry about not getting him anything in return. Robert, ever the perfect gentleman, would tell him not to worry about it, that seeing him happy was enough. Damien, also ever the perfect gentleman, would still worry, though. He’d be invited into the house, and Damien would talk to him about whatever was on his mind. Obviously, he’d listen and pay attention, because he liked hearing what the other man had to say. They’d talk and snuggle and start kissing. Hours would pass, and Damien would still feel bad about not getting Robert a gift. ‘I do think I have an idea if you’re willing.’ The other man would say. Robert would shrug and agree. How bad could it be? Then, Damien would get off the couch, pull his hair back, and kneel on the floor between his legs. He’d stare up at him with those perfect eyes and lick his lips while starting to unbutton and unzip his jeans for him. Then, he’d –

“Sir?” The cashier said, snapping Robert out of his fantasy. “Can you please slide or insert your card?”

Robert nodded and moved quickly to push his credit card into the slot on the little card reader. Well, shit. Now he’d popped a boner in the middle of the CVS. Once he’d paid for everything, he quickly grabbed the bags and shuffled out to his car, feeling awkward and silently begging for no one to look at him.

Once in the safety of his car, he pulled out his phone to call Mary. He always told her about his more embarrassing moments, since it always made her laugh.

“Mary, Christ, I just popped a boner in a CVS.” Robert sighed after she’d answered the phone.

Mary immediately started laughing. “Oh, God, Rob. What happened?”

“I just told you, I popped one in a CVS,” Robert replied with a small smile.

“No, I mean why? Did it just kinda happen?” Mary asked, still laughing.

“No, I’m not fucking fifteen. At my age boners happen for a reason.” Robert replied as he started to drive back home.

“So, why’d it happen, then?”

“I may or may not have been fantasizing about Damien. Specifically, Damien giving me a blowjob.”

“I mean, if it helps anything, I had a dream about giving an alien a blowjob the other night. At least you’re in a committed relationship with Damien, though.”

“I don’t want to hear about that dream, Mare. God, I can’t stop thinking about him going down on me now, though. Is it my fault he has such a perfect face?”

“Sounds like you’re in love. Has he let you go past first base, yet?”

“That’s a personal question, Mare.”

“So, yes.”

“Yeah, we almost broke a hotel bed last night. Oh, my God, I love that guy. Don’t tell him I told you about last night, though.”

“Pinky swear, buddy. I’m happy for you two.”

“Sweet. I think his kid thinks I’m trying to hit it and quit it, though. He always gives me weird looks.”

“Lucien’s basically a cat. Trust me, I’ve known that kid since before he was even born. He won’t hurt you, he’ll just make you think he will.”

“Okay, I’m takin’ your word for it. But yeah, Damien and I are going well. He told me he loves me, and I told him I love him, too.”

“Congrats, Rob. That’s romance for ya.”

“I’m pretty into it.”

“Most people are. Ah, shit, Crish is going crazy again. I’m gonna have to talk to ya later, Robby.”

“Catch ya later, Mare.”

“Keep it sleazy, Rob.”

Robert smiled a bit at that and pushed his phone into his pocket once he’d pulled into his driveway once again and parked his car in the garage. He got inside and smiled a bit when he caught a glimpse of Damien in his house, moving about in his kitchen. Damien was probably super good at cooking.  Any man with such perfect eyes like that had to be good at everything. It was just science.

 

Lucien had a tradition with his friends. Every year on the night before Halloween, his little group of friends always came over to spend the night at the Bloodmarch house. They swore up and down that it wasn’t a sleepover, though. They were all just hanging out and would sleep down in the basement of the house, then get dressed and ready in their costumes in the morning.

Damien knew what to expect when he came home from work to a house full of teenagers. They were all talking, but at least they were doing their homework together.

“Hi, Mr. Bloodmarch.” One of them piped up. Damien wished he could remember all their names.

“Hello, boys,” Damien replied, moving over to kiss Lucien’s head. “Lulu, I’m going to get changed for the night. You five can decide what you want for dinner.”

“I want baked Alaska.” One of the boys, the blonde one, joked.

“You can do the grocery shopping for it, then,” Damien replied with a smile to the boy as he took his hair down from the ponytail.

With that, Damien went up to his bedroom and changed out of his work clothes and took off his binder. They didn’t usually have people over for the night, let alone people who weren’t used to seeing him without one. So, he decided to pull on a rather baggy flannel shirt that hung off his body and hid about ninety percent of his form. He pulled on a pair of plain black pants and decided that was good enough. He was pretty sure the teenage boys wouldn’t mind if he didn’t look absolutely perfect.

The boys were still hard at work when he came back down the stairs.

“Hey, Dad, can we order a couple pizzas for dinner?” Lucien asked as Damien came back down.

“Of course, baby. What kinds do you want?” Damien replied.

“Maybe one large cheese and one large pepperoni?” Lucien asked.

“Okay, darling. How’s homework coming?”

“Bad. We don’t get math.”

“May I see?” Damien asked, letting his son show them the problem they were all stuck on. “This is the Law of Sines, sweetheart. Do you remember that?”

Lucien shook his head. Damien smiled and took a sheet of paper from one of the other boys at the table and drew out a triangle with each side and adjacent angle labeled. “Now, the sine of A over A is the same as the sine of B over B, which is the same of the sine of C over C.”

The boys watched as he drew the diagram and wrote down the ratios on the paper.

“Does that make any sense?” Damien asked the group.

“I think so.” The brunet boy said with a nod, the other’s agreeing.

“Let me know if you need any more help, boys.” Damien hummed, moving to order the pizzas in the living room. He paused when dialing the number when he saw Robert walk up the driveway and to the front door. He opened it before the man could even ring the doorbell.

“Hey, Dames,” Robert said with a grin. There was something about the sight of Damien dressed down and wearing his big glasses that made his heart pound.

“Hello, Robert. What are you doing here, my darling?” Damien asked curiously.

“I wanted to give you something, Dames. Close your eyes.” Robert replied with a smile to the other man.

Damien smiled at that and nodded, closing his eyes tightly. Something soft and squishy was set in his hands.

“Okay, open them,” Robert said with a small smile.

Damien opened his eyes and looked down at the small stuffed bat in his hands. He felt his heart swell at the sweet little gift, a wide grin spreading on his face.

“I saw it today and it made me think of you…” Robert said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh, Robert, I love it!” Damien gushed, hugging the other man tightly and kissing his lips warmly.

Robert smiled into the kiss and kissed Damien back, wrapping his arms around his waist. “I’m glad. I love you, Dames.” He said after they ended the kiss.

“I love you, too, Robert,” Damien replied with a grin. “I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to give you.”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I’m just happy you’re happy.” Robert replied.

Damien flushed at that and rested his head on Robert’s shoulder contently. “I’m sorry. I’d let you inside, but Lucien has all his friends over tonight.”

“It’d be awkward. I get it, Damey.” Robert hummed, rubbing his back. “Hey, do you mind if I get a picture with you? I told Val I’d send her one.”

“That would be fine. I’m not wearing my binder, though.” Damien replied.

“We can keep the picture of us from the shoulders up,” Robert said, getting his phone out from his pocket and wrapping an arm around Damien’s shoulders.

Damien smiled happily with Robert for the camera, letting the other man take a second picture of him kissing his cheek.

“Perfect. God, you’re a model.” Robert hummed before sliding his phone back into his pocket. “Hey, how free are you tomorrow night?”

“I’m relatively free after all the trick-or-treaters die down. Lucien will be out with his friends until midnight, so I’ll be free until then.” Damien replied with a smile to Robert.

“Perfect. I’ll see you once the trick-or-treaters stop coming around, then.” Robert replied with a grin, kissing his nose.

Damien grinned at the sweet kiss and kissed Robert one more time before watching the other man head off to his own house again. He slipped back into the house, his face burning bright red and hugging the small stuffed bat close to his chest.


	8. Chapter 8

 

“Alright, boys. It’s a school night, and all of your parents will be angry with me if I let you stay up any later.” Damien said to the group of teenage boys in the basement at eleven-thirty.

“But, Dad!” Lucien complained.

“Lucien, I will come down there to kiss your face and tuck you in in front of your friends. It’s time to go to sleep.” Damien replied with a small smile.

“Fine…” Lucien sighed.

“That’s my sweet baby. Goodnight, boys.” Damien hummed.

“Goodnight, Mr. Bloodmarch.” The group of teenagers replied as they got into their sleeping bags.

Once they were all settled, Damien turned off the lights and went back up to his own bedroom for the night. He got changed into his pajamas and climbed into his bed. He took off his glasses and quickly fell asleep.

He groaned at the sound of his beeping alarm clock. He turned it off and rubbed his eyes, going over his list of things to do that morning. He had to get breakfast ready for the teenagers, get dressed to take them to school, and somehow remember how they’d managed to fit himself and a group of five teenagers in his car with only five seats in the years prior.

First, however, he needed to shower. He was tempted to make the water hot, but he knew a cold shower would wake him up until he had coffee in his system. As soon as he got in the cold shower, he started to wash his hair with dog shampoo. He quickly washed his hair and body and scrambled out of the cold water, drying off his body and wrapping his dripping hair in a towel.

Once his shower was done, he popped in his contacts and got dressed in his preferred Victorian clothes, since the company’s dress code was rather lax on Halloween. Then, he tiredly headed down to the kitchen to make coffee and make a small breakfast of fried eggs and fruit. He turned on the news on the TV and listened absentmindedly as he ate. When he finished eating, it was time for him to wake up the teenagers in the basement.

He walked down and turned on one of the lights. “Boys, it’s time to wake up.” He said to the group.

The group of teenagers seemed to groan in unison and perfect harmony.

“You boys get dressed and I’ll get your breakfast ready.”

“Thanks, Mr. Bloodmarch.” One of the groggy boys replied.

“Don’t mention it, darlings.” Damien replied, turning on the rest of the lights and leaving to let them get dressed in their costumes for the day.

With that, he walked back to the kitchen, making toast and scrambled eggs for all five teenagers. Soon enough the boys came up to the kitchen in a single file line, like a line of baby ducklings. Sleepy baby ducklings wearing Power Rangers costumes.

“Oh, don’t you boys look adorable.” He gushed happily. He took a couple pictures of the boys before letting them line up around the kitchen to help themselves to eggs and toast.

“Thanks for the food, Mr. Bloodmarch.” The blonde boy said as they all sat down to eat at the table.

“You’re very welcome. Do you boys want anything to drink?” Damien asked.

“I can get the juice, Dad. Go finish getting dressed.” Lucien replied.

Damien nodded and left to go up to his bathroom and put on his makeup for the day, leaning as close to the mirror as he could while putting on his eyeliner. Once he was satisfied with everything, he took his hair down from the towel and brushed through it carefully until it was silky and smooth as he liked it.

Downstairs, the teenagers were all eating and watching the news on TV curiously.

“What’s the world coming to, eh, Mr. Bloodmarch?” One of the boys asked him while the news ran a story on a disease that was being passed around turkeys and affecting the meat industry.

“Well, I’m glad that they’re not saying anything worse.” Damien said with a small chuckle, watching as the news switched to covering the weather forecast.

They all watched the weather segment curiously, the boys getting intrigued at the news of a high chance of snow in a couple days.

“Hey, maybe it’ll get so snowy and icy that we’ll have a snow day!” The brunet boy chirped.

“Dude, this is New England. They’ll have the roads salted and ready before the snow even starts falling.” the blond replied.

The boys all fell silent at the hard truth and finished eating their breakfast. They loaded their dishes into the dishwasher and went to brush their teeth and get their backpacks.

Damien pulled the car out of the garage when it was time to leave.

“Now, if any of you boys have any ideas on how we fit six people in a car with five seats, I’d love to hear them.” He sighed from the driver’s seat, letting Lucien slide into the passenger seat.

“I could sit on the center console like a dog.” One of the boys suggested with a laugh.

“That’s horribly dangerous, I’d rather you didn’t.” Damien replied.

“What if we all just crammed in the back seat here?” Another boy said, sliding in as far as he could.

“It might work, if Trevor could move his fat ass.” The blond boy laughed.

“It’s not fat, it’s thick.” Trevor replied.

Soon enough, the four boys in the back had squished together enough to fit along the back seat.

“Can at least one of you please buckle up? I want to feel like we tried to be safe.” Damien asked as he closed the garage door.

Damien watched as the two boys on the outsides buckled themselves into the car. “Alright, that looks like it’s as good as it’ll get. Lucien, you have your lunch, right?”

“Yeah, Dad. It’s right here.” Lucien replied, pulling up his lunch bag. “Don’t worry so much.”

“I have five teenage boys dressed as Power Rangers in my sedan, one of whom allegedly has a prominent backside. You can imagine the kind of stress I’m under.” Damien replied as he started backing out of the driveway and driving the boys to school.

The boys all laughed happily before starting to talk contently the whole way to the high school. Lucien let his father kiss his cheek goodbye before they all headed into the high school building. From there, Damien drove home to relax before work.

 

Robert spent the day sleeping, and then planning for the day ahead. The kids wouldn’t be coming around until evening, so he had time to kill. He paced around the house for a bit, tried to find some entertainment in yelling at couples on HGTV, and then finally turned off the TV when he made himself too upset.

He didn’t know what made him try to call Val again. He knew she worked a standard nine to five, and it was about four. She wasn’t going to pick up.

As predicted, he got the dial tone.

“Uh, Hey, kiddo. I was just calling cuz I think maybe we should make sure all the Thanksgiving plans are getting worked out. I know we still have a few weeks to go, but I wanna make sure everything goes well, you know? Plus, Damien likes structure and all that organized shit. I gotta keep him in the loop. But, yeah, call me back, kay? I, uh, I love you, kiddo. Bye.” He said awkwardly into the phone before finally hanging up.

He hated the idea of surprises, knowing Damien would end up stressing himself out and worrying about every little detail. He wanted to avoid that as much as possible, and he didn’t want Val to get too shocked by his less-than-conventional boyfriend. He needed Thanksgiving to be as perfect as possible.

Robert decided he should make a list of everything they needed to sort out before the holiday. Firstly, they had to figure out how Val would be getting to town. If she would be flying, he could pick her up from the airport. If she was going to drive, he’d send her his address and make sure she got there easily.

Then, he had to prepare her for Damien and Lucien. He had no idea how she was going to react to their house, let alone them as people. He knew she’d definitely seen stranger things before, but the Addams Family air around that house always caught people off guard. Plus, she had to get a briefing on how to deal with Lucien’s teenage angst and some sensitive topics that she really shouldn’t bring up around Damien, like his height, or vampiric tendencies. He added in a note to make sure she knew they were vegetarians, too, so she shouldn’t expect much turkey on the table.

Val called back when he was making a sandwich for dinner around five-thirty.

“Hey, Dad. So, Thanksgiving plans? Where do you wanna start?” She asked.

“Oh, hey. I was thinking we should start on transportation. How’re you planning to get down here?” Robert asked.

“I was thinking I’d drive. It’s only about four hours to drive there. I can put on music.” She replied easily.

“Okay, cool. Wait, don’t you drive a Benz or something? How do you still have that thing in Brooklyn?” Robert asked between bites.

“It’s a Bentley. Brooklyn changed after you moved out and a bunch of rich white ladies moved in, Dad.”

“The badass left Brooklyn when I did.”

“You know it, Pops. But, yeah. You send me the address, and I’ll drive down there after work on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.”

“Can do. Okay, next thing, I gotta give you kinda forewarning on my boyfriend and his kid.”

“Oh, boy. Okay, I’m sitting down. Go ahead, Dad.”

“Okay, so, his name is Damien. He’s younger than me by like seven years. His son is like, sixteen, and his name is Lucien. Lucien’s an angsty little teen, so if he says some weird, catty shit to you, don’t take it personal. He says weird catty shit to everyone.”

“Got it. You snagged a younger guy and the kid is a teenager. Is that all?”

“Nah, not even close. Damien’s goth, and Lucien’s goth too, but in a more modern way. Damien really likes Victorian stuff. You remember when you came down here when I first moved in here and there was that huge old house next door that like everyone swore was haunted and no one bought?”

“Yeah?”

“Damien bought it. Then, he renovated it, and now the outside is all black and there’re gargoyles out front. He basically lives like a vampire, but he’s not a vampire. Trust me, I’ve checked. It kinda pissed him off.”

“Wow. Okay, so your boyfriend is a younger, goth dude who goes all out, and the kid’s a lowercase goth. Anything else I should know?”

“Well, Damien is trans, so tread carefully on that stuff. He’s a total sweetheart, and he makes himself anxious just by thinking too much about things. I just wanna make sure everything goes well for everyone, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that. I’ll just treat him like a normal guy who just so happens to be dating you.”

“That’d be perfect, Val. Thanks.” Robert replied, glancing out his window and smiling softly when he saw Damien waving to Lucien as the teenager got in a car with his friends and left for the night. “Damn, he’s pretty…”

“Did you start daydreaming on me?” Val asked on the other line.

“No, he’s just outside and I can see him and he’s pretty.” Robert replied.

Val laughed. “I’ll call you later, Dad.”

“Yeah, talk to you later, kiddo.” Robert hummed, setting the phone aside and just watching Damien outside until the man disappeared back into his house.

 

Damien sighed once Lucien had left with his friends after dinner. He watched the car disappear down the street and went back into his house. In a few minutes, he heard the doorbell ring, and he opened it up to see Chris, Christian, Christie, Crish, and Joseph standing on the other side with big smiles up at him.

“Oh, my. I figured the Christiansens would be my first this year.” Damien hummed, getting the large bowl of candy he’d prepared.

“We always are!” Christie chirped with a grin up at him, holding out her little plastic bucket to him.

Damien laughed and put a couple pieces of candy into each of their buckets.

“Lucien’s not helping you out tonight?” Joseph asked politely.

“Lucien went out with his friends for the night. I’m alone until he gets home.” Damien replied.

“On a school night?” Joseph asked in awe.

“Well, he knows how strict I am with his curfew, especially on school nights. He has his phone fully charged and he’s with a group of his friends. Besides, Halloween only comes once a year. I see no problem with letting him have his fun. He knows he has to wake up in the morning for school, just like any other day.” Damien replied with a small smile to the blond man.

“Huh. Well, I suppose if it works for you, then it works for you.” Joseph said with a small shrug, adjusting Crish in his arms as the toddler reached out to try and grab Damien’s cape.

“Dad….” The twins said in unison, looking up at their father.

“We’d better get going to get the other houses around here before these four wither away.” Joseph chuckled.

“I’ll bid you a good night, then, Christiansens.” Damien replied with a smile to them.

“Bye, Mr. Bloodmarch!” The blonde children chirped.

“Buh-bye!” Crish said with a little wave as they walked away.

Damien rested a hand over his heart at the toddler’s little voice before waving back with a warm smile.

It didn’t take long for the other children around the neighborhood to come by as they made their rounds around the cul-de-sac and through the neighborhood. After about an hour and a half, it started to slow down. Damien heard another ring of his doorbell and got the bowl of candy ready, heading over to the front door.

“Oh, Robert! Come in, my darling.” Damien said with a grin to the other man, letting him into the house.

“Heya, Dames. You been hanging in there?” Robert asked as he stepped inside and kissed his boyfriend’s lips after taking the bowl out of his hands and setting it aside on a table near the front door.

Damien hummed into the sweet kiss and hugged Robert close, nuzzling their noses together. “Yes, I have. How about you, my dear?”

“I’ve been doing my best.” Robert hummed, walking over to sit on the couch with Damien.

Damien smiled and leaned into Robert as they sat down on the couch together. “What have you been up to today, my darling?”

“Well, called Val and started making Thanksgiving plans with her.”

“Oh? How did that go?”

“Pretty well. She’s gonna drive down the night before and stay at my place, and we’ll come over here together for Thanksgiving with you guys.”

Damien nodded in understanding. “It will be a wonderful night. Ah, but I have yet to start planning what we should have for dinner.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it that much. You still have about three weeks to figure it all out.” Robert laughed, wrapping an arm around Damien to rub his back. “It’s Halloween. Let’s see what’s on TV.”

Damien nodded and watched Robert turn on the TV and start flipping through the channels. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is always nice.”

“Yeah, but it’s almost done.” Robert said with a small shrug. “But, hey, Blair Witch Project’s just starting!”

“The Blair Witch Project?” Damien repeated with a small frown, watching the TV with Robert.

“You’ve never seen this, baby? It’s a damn classic.” Robert hummed, setting the remote to the side and holding Damien close as the movie started.

“No, I can’t say I ever have…” Damien admitted, wrapping his arms around Robert’s waist to hug him tightly.

“It’s amazing. It’s so fucking bad it’s funny.” Robert said with a grin to the other man.

Damien just nodded and held Robert tightly, his fists clenching around the soft fabric of his red shirt. It wasn’t long until he was clinging to Robert for dear life, sitting in his lap, and hiding his eyes in the other’s shoulder.

Robert was a bit shocked when the goth climbed onto his lap and hugged him tightly, physically shaking from fear. A guy who liked hanging out in graveyards and styled himself like a character in an Anne Rice novel was deathly afraid of the movie The Blair Witch Project.

“Whoa, whoa. Hey, you’re okay. It’s just a movie, baby. Nothing can get you, I promise.” Robert hummed, reaching up to stroke Damien’s hair softly.

“I’m sorry, Robert! I’ve never been good with scary movies like this, not at all. I should have told you, but I didn’t want you to think less of me. I’m sorry, I’m sure I seem awfully childish now.” Damien rambled nervously as he clung to Robert tightly.

“Dames, it’s okay. They’re not everyone’s thing, that’s fine. Here, we’ll change the channel and watch something tamer. There’s a marathon of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. How’s that sound?” Robert said gently to the other man.

Damien nodded. “That would be nice.”

“Great, Sabrina it is. You can stay here on my lap, though, if you want. Can’t say I’m opposed to it at all.” Robert hummed as he changed the channel and settled in with Damien on the couch.

Damien flushed a bit at that, but just stayed on Robert’s lap and watched the TV with him until Lucien came home. He said his goodnights to Robert and kissed him goodbye for the night before following his son up the stairs to get ready for bed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'll have to start college here in a week, so updates are gonna slow wayyyyy down. I do intend to keep this going, but it might start taking a while to get chapters up.

Even with three weeks to prepare, Damien was still just as nervous as he’d been on Halloween. He had no idea what Val would or wouldn’t like, and having Thanksgiving dinner with boyfriend and boyfriend’s daughter was a huge deal. Everything had to be absolutely perfect, and he had no excuse for anything less.

So, he’d started stockpiling recipes. He looked through old family cookbooks, bought a couple cookbooks, and looked on the internet. Lucien told him he was taking it all way too far, and perhaps the boy was right. It didn’t stop him from wanting to host an amazing Thanksgiving dinner, though.

“Dad, you’re gonna give yourself an aneurysm. Seriously, chill.” Lucien said as he watched his father plan out Thursday’s dinner after they’d eaten on Tuesday.

“Lulu, I can’t. Thanksgiving dinner has to be perfect.” Damien replied, looking up from his list and over the rims of his glasses at his son.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Hospitality and all that. I just think you’re overworking yourself. You do this every year, even if it’s just the two of us.” Lucien sighed, reaching over to push up his father’s glasses for him.

“I want you to have good family memories, Lulu. Even if we don’t have a big, picturesque family.” Damien said honestly, smiling softly at his son next to him.

Lucien smiled softly at that. “We have loads of good memories, Dad. Just take a break for the night, okay? I’ll help you start on the bread dough tomorrow night.”

Damien smiled and kissed Lucien’s forehead, wrapping an arm around his son’s shoulder to hold him close. “What did I ever do to deserve such a lovely son?”

Lucien rolled his eyes, but let his father hold him close and fawn over him, especially if it meant the man would relax for the night.

The teenager spent the next day at school worrying as much as his father had been for weeks. He still wasn’t too keen on Robert being around so much. He didn’t like the guy, and he didn’t like how easily he’d waltzed back into his father’s life after hurting him so badly. Now, Robert and his daughter were going to be barging in on their Thanksgiving.

Every Thanksgiving had been the same, and they had strict traditions that he didn’t want some recovering alcoholic fucking up. Breakfast would be cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs, and they’d eat together while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. Then, after the parade, Damien would head off to the kitchen to start cooking dinner, and Lucien would help him out. Then, once dinner was on the table, they’d both say what they were thankful for, which was always the same. Damien was always thankful for his loving son, who was beautiful inside and out. Lucien was always thankful for his weird father. Then, they would eat together and talk contently, and have pumpkin pie and ice cream for dessert, Lucien’s favorite. Damien would get a picture of the two of them with the dessert for the photo albums, and then they’d finish eating. They’d spend the rest of the night doing dishes and relaxing while Lucien begged his father to go out to the mall so they could take advantage of the sales at his favorite stores the next day.

The dinner was extremely important to Damien, though. Lucien knew how badly his dad wanted everything to go well. He was constantly worrying about whether Val would like the food or not, or if Val would like him. It would be their first Thanksgiving with more than just the two of them since he was three, and Damien wanted everything to be perfect. For his father’s sake, he wanted everything to be perfect, too. Which was why he couldn’t have Robert fucking it all up.

Damien came home right at five-fifteen, just like every night. He and Lucien had dinner together and then started to work on making the dough for the bread, as promised.

“I’ve never liked the idea of yeast. I don’t like that it’s alive and eats sugar.” Lucien said as he watched his father add the activated yeast and start mixing the dough together.

“It’s just a microscopic organism, Lulu. At one point, you were a microscopic organism, too.” Damien replied as he worked with Lucien in the kitchen.

“Maybe. It’s still weird, though.” Lucien shrugged.

“Alright, it’s time to knead,” Damien said, setting the dough down on the floured countertop in front of Lucien.

Lucien smiled a bit at that and went to work pushing and kneading the dough while his father got the bowl ready so they could refrigerate the dough overnight.

“How was school today, sweetheart?” He asked curiously, watching his son take out his teenage anger and aggression on the dough.

“School was school. Everyone’s happy to get a couple days off, you know?” Lucien replied, continuing to push and beat the dough until it was smooth and elastic.

“As were all my co-workers. Thank you, honey. You’re very good at that.” Damien hummed, kissing Lucien’s cheek as he took the readied dough and put it in the greased bowl, sprayed a bit of cooking oil over the top of it, then covered the bowl with plastic wrap before he put it in the refrigerator.

“How was work today?” Lucien asked curiously. He didn’t really know what his father did, and whenever the man tried to explain it to him, he just got more and more confused.

“It was very busy, today. Some newer coders are working on a couple plugins for the updated software, but they coded a bug into the programming. I had to spend about two hours just fixing their mistakes.” Damien replied with a small sigh at the memory of the stressful afternoon. “One of them said they’d buy me a coffee on Monday morning, though, so I suppose we’re even.”

“That’s cool.” Lucien hummed in reply. “I’m gonna put on my PJ’s and chill for the rest of the night.

“Alright, darling. I think I’ll clean up in here and then do the same.” Damien replied with a nod to Lucien with a small smile.

Lucien went up to his room and tiredly put on his pajamas, which consisted of a plaid pair of fleece pants and a black long-sleeved shirt. The pants were too short on him, but he decided to deal with it because he knew he’d be getting pajamas for one of his Christmas gifts. His father always made one of the gifts a set of pajamas.

Damien cleaned the kitchen thoroughly before heading up to change out of his work clothes, pull his hair free of the ponytail, and pull off his binder. From there, he donned a set of black silk pajamas and joined his son down in the living room to unwind for the night. Lucien watched TV while he read, though he got distracted by the TV and eventually set the book aside to watch with his son.

The two of them went up to bed at the same time, said goodnight to each other, and crawled into their beds. Damien read himself to sleep, doing everything he could not to think about the day ahead of them.

Morning came faster than Damien had hoped it would. He yawned and stretched out and pushed his glasses on to check the time. Somehow, it was later than he thought it was, but he was still on time to get the cinnamon rolls ready and in the oven. He pulled on a bathrobe over his pajamas and left his room.

“Lulu?” He said from the doorway of his son’s room.

“Hmmm?” Lucien asked tiredly as he woke up and turned to look over at his father

“I’m going to start working on the cinnamon rolls and eggs, darling. The parade will start in an hour or so if you’d like to start slowly waking up.” Damien hummed to his son.

“Okay, Dad.” Lucien yawned.

Damien smiled warmly at his son before heading down to the kitchen to start working on breakfast.

 

Robert woke up around noon to the sound of his phone going off with a text message from Val that said she was on her way to Maple Bay.

“Well, that gives us about four hours to get our shit together, Betsey.” He said to the Boston terrier at the foot of his bed. He rolled out of the bed and moved to get dressed. He decided he should probably try to look nice for a big, holiday dinner with his daughter and boyfriend’s family. So, he pulled on a pair of black pants and a red button down after showering. He attempted to comb and tidy his hair and eventually had to settle for gelling his bangs back from his face. He shaved just enough to make his usual five o’clock shadow look neat and tidy. He then spent a few minutes checking himself over in the mirror to make sure he looked perfect for that night.

“Oh, fuck yeah. There’s my ass.” Robert hummed as he examined himself in the mirror with pride, happily enjoying the daydream of Damien getting flustered at Thanksgiving dinner and trying not to check him out too much. Of course, though, it was impossible, and the goth would be blushing furiously all through the night.

Robert made himself a light breakfast and decided to make something simple, so it wouldn’t come off like he was coming to the dinner empty-handed. He really didn’t want to piss Damien off again. So, he found a recipe online and made a pasta salad that consisted of steamed vegetables and bow-tie pasta.

Val pulled up just a little before four, and Robert felt his heart start pounding. He swallowed hard at the sight of his daughter through his window and wiped his hands on his pants before meeting her at the door.

“Heya, Dad,” Val said with a small smile, hugging him.

Robert relaxed at the hug and hugged her back, holding her a bit tighter and hugging her for a bit longer than he’d intended to. “Hey, baby girl.”

“You clean up, nice. Trying to impress the guy you’re already dating?” She asked with a small smile at the sight of her father.

“There’s no shame in it. Besides, it’s a big deal for him. I gotta dress the part.” Robert replied, showing her to the tiny spare bedroom in the small house and letting her put down her overnight bag.

“You look good, don’t worry about it.” She said to him contently, setting her bag on the bed. Val looked around her father’s little house, jumping a bit at the feeling of a small dog jumping on her legs.

“Oh, yeah. That’s Betsey, my beautiful idiot.” Robert said, watching the dog smell and jump on his daughter.

Val smiled and crouched down to pet the dog’s head. “You are a beautiful idiot, aren’t you, honey?”

Robert smiled as he watched her. “Oh, hey, you want coffee or tea or anything?”

“No whiskey yet, Dad?” Val asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Hell no. I’m about one week away from getting my one month chip from AA. I’m not gonna fuck that over. Besides, Dames got me hooked on this peach tea stuff.” Robert replied, showing her the tin of tea bags.

Val blinked at that. “You went sober and now you’re drinking tea? Damn, he must be the real deal.”

“As real as your mom was. Arguably even more real.” Robert replied.

“She did cheat on you,” Val remembered.

“And Damien’s been pretty loyal. So far, so real. You want any of this?” Robert nodded, shaking the tin of tea bags.

“Sure, I’ll have a cup.”

Robert nodded and got a couple mugs down and started to heat up the water in the microwave for the tea. He sat and talked with his daughter for hours. He caught up with her and asked all about her job and her girlfriend. When it was time to head over to Damien’s, they walked together out of the house and over to the larger house next door.

Val looked around at the place curiously, trying to get a feel for what kind of person his father was dating.

“Oh, it’s you,” Lucien said when he answered the door.

“Hey, Lulu. Your dad in the kitchen?” Robert asked as they stepped inside.

“Don’t call me that.” Lucien huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Damien stepped out from the kitchen when he heard voices in the entranceway.

“Robert. Oh, goodness, it is that time already, isn’t it?” Damien said, looking rather frazzled as he wiped his hands on the apron he wore over his clothes.

“Hey, Dames. The day went by fast, huh?” Robert said with a grin, kissing Damien’s cheek when the other man came over to greet them.

“Very.” Damien agreed, kissing Robert on the cheek in return.

“Are they always like this?” Val asked Lucien as she watched the pair kiss and fawn over each other.

“Worse,” Lucien replied to her.

“I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten my manners. I’m Damien Bloodmarch, and this is my son Lucien.” Damien said to Val, bowing to her politely.

“Hi,” Lucien said to the older girl next to him.

“And, I’m Val,” Val replied.

“It’s lovely to finally meet you, your father talks about you quite a bit,” Damien said, shaking Val’s hand and holding it between both of his warmly.

“Really?” Val asked, a bit shocked by the statement.

“Oh, yes, almost nonstop. It’s very endearing, really.” Damien replied with a warm smile to her.

Val glanced over at her father, who’d turned to look away, though she could still see how dark his cheeks and ears had gotten.

Lucien frowned a bit at the moment, shifting awkwardly and silently praising whatever omnipotent force was watching when he heard a timer start going off in the kitchen. “Dad, something’s beeping.”

“Oh, dear. Lucien, darling, can you show them to the dining room and then help me carry the last of the food out?” Damien said, pulling away from Val.

“Yeah, okay,” Lucien replied, leading the pair of guests off to the dining room and letting Robert set his bowl of pasta salad down on the already rather crowded dinner table.

From there, he went to help his father carry the fresh bread and mashed potatoes to the dinner table. Then, Damien took his seat next to Robert at the table and let Lucien sit down next to Val on the other side of the table.

“You outdid yourself, Dames,” Robert said with a small smile to Damien as the other man took his hair down.

“It’s Thanksgiving, plenty of food is a tradition,” Damien said with a small smile to Robert.

“No turkey?” Val asked Lucien curiously.

“We’re vegetarians,” Lucien replied to her easily.

Val nodded in understanding and looked back over at the pair of men chatting with each other at the other side of the table. “So, do you guys like to say grace or anything?” she asked.

“Oh, well, we can if you’d like to. We usually say what we’re thankful for before eating.” Damien replied honestly to her.

“Nah, I’m not really the praying type,” Val said, waving a hand in the air dismissively.

“I can start with the thankful stuff.” Robert volunteered, letting Damien take hold of his hand gently. “I’m thankful for second chances at my family and my life in general.”

Damien smiled warmly at Robert and squeezed his hand.

“Your turn, baby,” Robert said to Damien, smiling a bit when the other’s eyes widened and his cheeks flushed brightly.

“Oh, well, um, I’m thankful for my beloved son and the chance to be with someone I’ve made a genuine connection with,” Damien replied honestly.

“My turn, huh?” Lucien asked when everyone looked over to him to continue. “I’m thankful for my weird dad.”

“I’m thankful that things are starting to turn around for my Dad,” Val concluded.

Once everyone had finished, they all started to help themselves and each other to some of the food on the table. Damien still felt very nervous about whether or not Val would like him or the food at all and started desperately racking his mind for something to say to break the silence at the table.

“So, Damien, what do you do? For a living, I mean.” Val asked curiously.

“I’m a programmer for a software company that’s most commonly used in pet stores and animal shelters,” Damien replied honestly between bites, one hand over his mouth.

“Oh, cool,” Val said. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected the answer to be, but a programmer wasn’t it at all.

The table went quiet again and Damien went back to worrying about what to say. He couldn’t say anything too weird or off beat because he felt like something like that would make Val hate him.

“Did you know that Victorians used to make a sport of who could eat the most food in one sitting?” He finally blurted out before proceeding to wonder why he’d said something like that.

“Really?” Val asked, a bit shocked by the outburst by the other man.

“No, actually the women would make a sport of seeing who could go the longest without eating,” Damien said softly, feeling his face heat up until it felt like it was on fire. “Can you excuse me for a moment?”

“Dames?” Robert asked with a small frown.

“Just a moment, please,” Damien said softly, getting up from the table and quickly retreating into the kitchen.

The trio at the table sat in silence for a moment, staring at each other as they tried to figure out what to do.

“I’ll be right back, promise,” Robert said to Val and Lucien before getting up to go into the kitchen.

“Oh, God. Oh, my God, I can’t believe I said that. That was so stupid.” Damien groaned, his face buried in his hands as Robert walked into the room and took the other man into his arms.

“It wasn’t stupid, Damien. You’re doing your best with an awkward situation.” Robert said, hugging Damien close and stroking his hair.

“I can’t do this, Robert. She hates me, I just know it.” Damien whimpered.

“She doesn’t hate you, baby, she barely knows you,” Robert replied before pulling away and holding Damien’s shoulders. “Look at me, Dames. Right at me.”

Damien spread his fingers to reveal his eyes and look at Robert.

“You can do this, Damien. You’re Damien motherfucking Bloodmarch. You’ve dealt with so much in your life and lived to tell the tale. You can handle a twenty-five-year-old woman.” Robert said seriously to his lover.

Damien nodded and took a deep breath, pulling his hands away from his face. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I can do this. I’ve been able to get through multiple dinners with Lucien’s other father, I can get through a dinner with your daughter.”

“That’s the ticket,” Robert said, moving his hands from Damien’s shoulders up to cup his face while he kissed the other’s forehead. “Let’s go give those kids Hell, huh?”

Damien nodded determinedly and took Robert’s hand, leading him back to the dining room.

“You good, Dad?” Lucien asked when the pair returned to the table.

“I’ll be fine, honey,” Damien replied with a nod.

Lucien nodded and analyzed his father once again. The man glanced at Val and Lucien spotted the nervousness when it returned to his eyes. It was time to break out the secret weapon. If it didn’t work to open his father up, he had no idea what would.

“Hey, Dad, didn’t I have a twin that I killed in the womb?” Lucien asked curiously.

Damien blinked at the question and looked over at his son. “Yes, and then you absorbed it. Why are you asking that?”

“I just got curious. It’d be weird if I still had a twin.” Lucien replied, determined to keep his father talking.

“It would be very different, yes. You were such a fussy baby, too. I don’t know if I would have been able to handle two fussy babies.” Damien said with a small smile to Lucien. “I remember once when you were a toddler, you wouldn’t stop crying and screaming in the grocery store unless we kept periodically feeding you mini marshmallows from a sandwich bag we had to bring with us.”

Robert smiled a bit at the mental image as Damien seemed to relax. “Val never wanted to go anywhere without her stuffed bunny when she was little. From the day she figured out how to control the muscles in her hands and arms until she was about six, she never went anywhere without that thing.”

“Dad…” Val sighed as both parents started to talk happily about their children. “So, were you two living here when Dad moved in or was he here before you guys?”

“I think we got here first. We moved to Maple Bay when Lucien was about six. When he was five, I was in the long process of being relocated here. This house was almost perfect when we bought it, so I renovated it, and we moved in a year later. I think Robert moved next door a couple years later.” Damien replied.

“I think I was the last of the cul-de-sac to move in. Back then, Craig and Hugo were still married.” Robert nodded as he ate. “Hey, how’d you ever meet Mary?”

“I met Mary through work. The computers at the animal shelter were having troubles, and I was the person they sent over to help fix them. I was very new to the job and pregnant at the time, and Mary was all alone in the building, so we started to talk while I worked. It took a few hours, and I gave her my personal phone number along with my work phone number when I was done. Then, she started checking in almost every day. I think she started to feel very protective of me. She was in the hospital right away when Lulu was born, and we decided to make Joseph and Mary Lucien’s godparents at his baptism.” Damien explained after swallowing the food in his mouth.

“Lucien was baptized?” Val asked curiously. “Sorry, but you don’t really seem like the kind of guy to baptize your kid.”

“Originally, I didn’t want to. I don’t like the idea of shoving any sort of ideology down your child’s throat. His other father’s family had a long tradition of baptizing babies in a family baptismal gown. We did it more for the sake of tradition than anything.” Damien replied honestly to her. “I was born and raised in a very Catholic family. I went to a Catholic school as a child, which made me much less of a Catholic than it ever did to help me become a better one.”

Val smiled at that and laughed. “You were given more of a fear of nuns than you were of God, huh?”

“Yes, exactly. Actually, I think I have some pictures from Lucien’s baptism in an album somewhere. Perhaps we can look at them while we digest, and then we can have dessert.” Damien said with a smile to her.

“That would be really fun,” Val said with a nod and a smile to him.

Damien grinned back and cleared away the table when they were done. Robert helped him with everything and met their children in the living room with him, an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders.

Damien found the album rather quickly and moved to sit down on the couch, Robert and Val by his sides and Lucien standing behind the couch and looking over his shoulder.

“Some of these photos of me are pre-transition. Robert, I’ll show you those later, when I’m ready.” Damien said, paging through the album to find the pictures of Lucien’s baptism.

“That’s fair,” Robert replied with a nod.

“Here we are. The bonnet was my idea.” Damien said, opening the album up to a page with a couple pictures of Lucien at only a month old, wearing a long white baptismal gown and a white baby bonnet.

“Oh fuck, that’s precious,” Robert said with a small smile at the picture of the little baby. “Is he a blondie here?”

“Yes, Lucien’s a natural blonde. He gets it from his other father.” Damien said with a nod, smiling up at his son, whose cheeks had gone a rosy pink. “It makes it much easier to dye his hair, especially this light gray color he likes so much. We would have had to bleach it quite a bit, and it would be terribly damaged.”

“That’s adorable.” Val hummed, looking at the pictures contently as they flipped the page to find a picture of Lucien being held by Mary, with Joseph grinning brightly at her side and holding her close.

“We should get a picture of the four of us,” Robert said with a small smile.

“Oh, Robert, that’s a marvelous idea. I’ll get the camera.” Damien said, kissing his cheek before rushing off to get the camera.

Damien returned within a minute with a black digital camera and a tripod and started to get it set up in front of the group around the couch.

“What, no big Victorian rig, baby?” Robert joked as Damien set up the camera.

“Those would be far too expensive, sadly,” Damien replied with a smile to Robert. “I’m going to set a timer on this for ten seconds, alright?”

“Go ahead, Dad,” Lucien replied.

Damien smiled up at his son and set the timer before quickly going back to the couch,  and scooting a bit so Val could sit by her father. He stayed by Robert’s side, holding the other man’s hand for the picture, his free hand resting on Lucien’s arm when the boy wrapped his arms around his shoulders in a gentle hug.

Once the photo was taken, they all got up to look at the screen on the back of the camera.

“Let’s take a few more now. One of you and Lulu, one of me and you, and one of me and Val.” Robert said with a small smile.

Damien smiled to Robert and kissed his cheek. “You are positively a genius, Robert.”

“Okay, you two get the mushy one over with. We’ll make sure it’s good.” Lucien said to the pair.

Damien smiled and laughed happily and sat on the couch with Robert. They got two pictures together. In one, they were sitting and smiling and simply holding each other. The second showed Damien grinning and laughing as Robert started kissing his face without a warning.

“I’m cutting you guys off. That’s all you get.” Lucien said, moving to take Robert’s place when the man got up. He settled down on the couch next to his father and let Damien wrap an arm around him for the photo.

When that photo was done, they both got up to let Val and Robert sit down on the couch. The pair both wrapped an arm around the backs of each other’s necks, smiling happily for the camera.

They ended up getting many more, more candid pictures of each other that night. Val caught a picture of Robert and Damien chatting and holding each other in the kitchen. Lucien posted a picture of his father with ice cream on his nose to his Snapchat. Robert used his own phone to take what he called ‘glamour shots’ of Damien’s face from various angles while the other man ate his slice of pumpkin pie for dessert. Damien eventually caught him and retaliated by taking a few candid shots of Robert with his cheeks stuffed with pie in return.

When it got late, Damien sent Robert and Val off with leftover food, since there was quite a bit of it.

“It was amazing to finally meet you, Val,” Damien said to the girl, giving her a case of leftover sweet potato pot pie.

“Come here, lover boy.” Val laughed, hugging Damien with one arm. “Take care of my dad, okay?”

Damien gasped a bit as she hugged him and just nodded, feeling tears start to well up in his eyes. He hugged her back tightly before letting her go.

“Hey, baby, don’t cry.” Robert laughed as he held Damien close and kissed his cheeks goodbye.

“I can’t help it. I’m just so happy.” Damien replied, pressing their foreheads together.

Robert smiled at that and kissed Damien’s lips briefly before hugging him tightly and picking him up off the ground.

“I’ll see you sometime tomorrow, then?” Robert asked with a grin to the other man.

“Yes, though it will have to be sometime in the afternoon. Lucien and I will be rather busy in the morning.” Damien replied with a smile to Robert.

“Gotcha. I’ll text you.” Robert hummed, kissing his cheek one last time before finally letting him go. “Goodnight, Dames. Sleep well, kay?”

“I will. You sleep well, too, dear heart.” Damien replied with a grin to Robert. He waved to Robert and Val as they walked back to the house next door together.

Lucien was waiting inside, having elected out of watching the two men kiss about a thousand times before finally saying good night.

“Alright, Lulu, why don’t you and I get to bed?” Damien suggested once he was inside.

“It’s only ten,” Lucien said with a small frown.

“We need to wake up early tomorrow if we want to be able to go to all the stores you wanted to,” Damien replied with a small smile to his son.

Lucien’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“I would never lie to you about something like this, sweetheart.”

Lucien grinned and hugged his father tightly before running up the stairs to get ready for bed.


	10. Chapter 10

It wasn’t long until the snow really started falling. One Saturday morning in early December, Robert woke up to see Damien outside already, trying to shovel away the snow that had piled up overnight from their driveway and the sidewalk in front of their house. The man was all bundled up in a black wool coat, snow boots, a hat, gloves, and a scarf that he had wound around the lower half of his face. The snow looked really pretty sitting on his long hair.

Robert yawned and moved to pull on his own winter gear. He grabbed a shovel from his garage and trudged out through the snow and over to his boyfriend.

“G’morning.” He yawned as he started to shovel along beside him.

“Robert,” Damien said with shock when he looked over to see the other man beside him. “You don’t need to do that, Robert, it’s alright.”

“It’ll go faster with two people working together, Damey,” Robert said with a small smile over at his boyfriend, meeting his eyes. “You don’t have your contacts in. Why aren’t you wearing your glasses? Can you even see what you’re shoveling?”

“I’m not that blind, Robert, of course, I can see what I’m shoveling. My glasses got fogged over, and they were doing more harm than good.” Damien replied.

Robert smiled a bit at the way the other man squinted at him while asserting that he could see perfectly well. “Alright, baby. Let’s get this shoveling done so we can warm up and you can put your glasses back on, huh?”

Damien nodded and got back to work with Robert. They worked together steadily for a few minutes until the sidewalk was cleared.

“Okay, let’s take a break before the driveway. You’re not supposed to do lots of exercise like this anyways.” Robert hummed to Damien.

“I’m fine, Robert. Please, don’t worry so much about me.” Damien laughed, pulling down his scarf to press a small kiss to the other’s cheek.

“Aren’t you supposed to follow all the rules of binders or whatever? So you don’t hurt yourself?” Robert asked, leaning into the warm kiss.

“That’s why I’m not wearing one right now. I’d have to follow all the rules if I ever want to get surgery, so I elected not to wear it right now.” Damien explained.

“Do you want to get the surgery?” Robert asked curiously as they got to work on the driveway.

“Yes, I do. I have since before I started my transition.” Damien replied honestly, squinting as he shoveled.

“Really? What’s keeping you from getting it, then? It’s been years, you should do it. It’ll make you happy.” Robert asked with a small frown.

“Oh, well… I suppose nothing much is keeping me. I’ve had plenty of money saved up for it for years.” Damien admitted. “Mostly, I’m just scared. I don’t like surgeries, especially not big ones like a double mastectomy.”

“I don’t think anyone in their right mind likes surgeries, Dames. Have you had a lot of big surgeries?” Robert asked curiously.

“About ten years ago I had a hysterectomy,” Damien replied.

“Remind me again what that is.”

“I had my uterus and cervix surgically removed from my body. My family has a history of uterine and cervical cancer and the last thing I want is to fall victim to my own genes and leave Lucien all alone.”

“Whoa. I kinda forgot cervixes existed.” Robert breathed. “Sounds invasive.”

“It was. I know a mastectomy would be much less invasive, and sources online say that they’re much faster, like getting your wisdom teeth removed. Still, though, the thought terrifies me.” Damien sighed. “I hate my body, but I’m too afraid to get the surgery that would make me like it more. It’s a horrid catch twenty-two.”

Robert smiled a bit at that and patted Damien’s back. “I think you should do it. If you want, I’ll be right by your side through the whole thing. Every consultation you need, the surgery, the recovery, all of it.”

Damien looked over at Robert with big brown eyes. “Oh, Robert.” He gushed, moving to hug the other man tightly and kiss his lips. “I am the luckiest man in the world.”

Robert grinned at the words and wrapped his arms around Damien tightly in return, holding the small of the other’s back and the back of his head. “I just want you to be happy, Dames.” He hummed.

Damien smiled and rested against Robert for a bit longer before stepping away and cupping his cheeks with his gloved hands. “Robert, may I ask something of you?”

“Shoot,” Robert replied.

Damien swallowed. After rehearsing the question mentally and in front of a mirror multiple times over the past few days, he’d hoped he’d be better prepared than he was.

“Well, you see, Lucien’s birthday is coming up. It’s this coming Thursday, actually. Next  Saturday, we’re going to have a small party for him with family, like we do every year. My younger brother will be flying in from Kansas, Joseph and Mary will be coming, but so will his other father. He and I didn’t end on the most amicable terms, and every year we have to be civil for Lucien’s sake. To be honest, I think I threw something at him when he and I had our last fight before he walked out the door.”

“Dames, you’re rambling,” Robert said with a small chuckle. “Are you trying to ask me to come to the party as moral support?”

Damien’s cheeks grew even rosier as he nodded. “Could you, please?”

“Sure, I’ll come. I’ll even get the kid a little gift. Maybe it’ll make him like me a bit more.” Robert said with a small smile.

“Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you so, so much, Robert.” Damien gushed, kissing Robert’s cheek adoringly.

“It’s no problem, Dames. Why don’t we iron out the kinks over tea once we finish up out here?” Robert said with a small smile to Damien.

Damien nodded and smiled to Robert before pulling away from him and getting back to work shoveling the snow away from the driveway. After what felt like an eternity, the pair finished and walked, panting into the large black house.

Robert let Damien take his coat and they left their boots at the door to dry as they padded into the kitchen for tea.

“What kind of tea did you want, Robert?” Damien asked curiously as he got a couple tea cups down from a cabinet.

“Uh, let’s see what you’ve got,” Robert said, moving to stand behind Damien and look over his shoulder at the cupboard of tea that he kept. “What’s Chocolate Mint? Does that taste like those Girl Scout cookies?”

“Vaguely, yes.” Damien nodded.

“Let’s do it.” Robert hummed.

Damien got the box down and started to boil the water in a kettle on the stove. “Have you eaten yet this morning?”

“Not yet, no,” Robert replied as he watched the other man move about the kitchen.

“I’ll make you some eggs, then.” Damien decided.

“Thanks, babe. So, can I ask you how you and Other Dad broke up? I mean, you must’ve been kinda into each other at one point to have a kid together.”

Damien looked over at Robert as he started to work on making scrambled eggs for the two of them. “I suppose you ought to know before next weekend. He and I met in college and we had instant chemistry.”

“So, you had awesome sex in one of your dorm beds?”

Damien flushed brightly. “Ah, well… yes. Though at that point I had a studio apartment, so it wasn’t exactly a dormitory.”

“Tomato, tomahto. Continue the story, though.” Robert said with a small smile.

“Right. Well, he and I had… chemistry right away. We were both in our last year of college and we’d started to see each other in November. Then we started dating and we were going steady for the rest of the year. Then, in May, Lucien decided to surprise us by coming into our lives. That first month or so was one of the hardest months I’ve had to live through. You see, I was raised Catholic, though I, personally, am not very religious. At the time I was rather agnostic and I was still trying to decide where I stood on various issues, including abortion.

“I wondered whether or not I should get an abortion. In the end, though, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I had a good job lined up for after graduation, and Lucien’s other father had a job as a manager at a Starbucks. We decided that we would be able to support ourselves and Lucien, but it meant that I would have to wait to start my transition for a while and we would have to start saving the money for it. So, I went through with the pregnancy. My parents weren’t happy that we were having a child before marriage, but they were happy that I’d decided against abortion, so they decided to help us pay the medical bills. To be honest, I think my mother rather enjoyed shopping for baby toys and clothes. She spoiled Lucien from the day she knew he existed.

“Well, Lucien was born a few weeks before he was due, but the doctors said that he would be perfectly fine being a little early, and it was common for babies to come early when the parents are so young. We were still living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment with Lucien’s crib in our bedroom, but we made it work. After maternity leave, I went back to work. Garrett was- “

“Whoa, wait. He has a name?” Robert asked, cutting Damien off.

“Who, Lucien’s other father? Yes, his name is Garrett.” Damien replied with a nod.

“He sounds like a douchebag.”

Damien smiled and chuckled a bit. “I can’t argue with that. Anyways, I went back to work and Garrett was still a manager at Starbucks, but only part-time, so I ended up being the main breadwinner of the household. Or, apartment-hold, if you will.”

“I won’t,” Robert said with a small smile.

“That’s fair.” Damien laughed. “In the end, it was parenting and finances that drove us apart. He was very supportive of me and urged me to seek out a therapist and he would always listen to me vent after work. Once I’d finished nursing, he helped me buy my first binders, and he was there for me when I came out. However, I was working far more than he was. He was a manager at a Starbucks, still, but he was only working part-time. I was working full time, and when we weren’t at work, we were at home with Lucien. The only time we got alone together was at night when we went to bed. We were both so exhausted all the time, so we’d fall asleep within minutes of getting into the bed.”

“You guys stopped fucking?” Robert asked.

Damien coughed awkwardly, his cheeks going bright red. “We, um, yes. We stopped having intercourse.”

“That blows.” Robert hummed, smiling a bit at the sight of the other man’s face. “Sorry, keep going with the history, Damey.”

Damien cleared his throat. “Well, at the time, we could only afford so much. We could live comfortably after rent and utilities and food and necessities for us and Lucien. However, there wasn’t much room for testosterone prescriptions in the budget and our insurance didn’t cover it. So, we started putting money aside for it, like we were for Lucien’s college tuition. It took about three or four years, but we finally saved enough money for the testosterone.

“I was so excited, I told Garrett right away and he seemed happy for me, too. Then, he brought up the idea of using the money to support another child instead. Of course, I love Lucien, and I would be more than happy to give him a sibling even now, but Garrett wanted a child of our own flesh and blood. Pregnancy and nursing would set me back for at least another year, and I didn’t want to wait any longer. We fought so much over it, and it all eventually boiled over. Then, we were in a courtroom settling on custody rights and child support money. I got full custody of Lucien, and Garrett moved away. I only ever see him at Lucien’s birthday parties anymore, but at least he still pays the child support. We stay out of each other’s lives.”

Robert listened with a small frown. “That’s sad, Dames.”

“I suppose so. It’s been so long, I don’t feel the sadness I used to when I’d think on our past. Now, when I think of him, most of what I feel is contempt.” Damien said honestly, shrugging his shoulders.

Robert nodded in understanding and opened his mouth to reply. He was cut off by the shrieking of the tea kettle.

Damien jumped about a foot in the air, his hand over his heart as the shock subsided. He moved the kettle off the stove and poured the water into the pair of tea cups.

When he brought them over, Robert took a sip of the tea right away and flinched when it burned his tongue.

“Be careful, Robert, it’s very hot,” Damien said with a smile at the other man.

“Yeah, I can tell.” Robert chuckled. “Good thing I can handle hot things pretty well.”

Damien flushed as Robert wiggled his eyebrows at him, laughing behind his hand.

 

Lucien woke up on Thursday morning to the smell of his father making chocolate chip pancakes in the kitchen. He smiled a bit and got dressed for the day, trying not to look like he was rushing when he walked hastily down the stairs.

“Hey, Dad.” He hummed.

“Good morning, Lulu. Happy birthday, my darling.” Damien replied, turning back to look at his son with a happy grin. “Go ahead and sit down, breakfast is about done.”

Lucien nodded and sat down at the table that had been set already. On his plate was a red envelope sealed shut with a purple wax seal. “Can I open this now, Dad?”

“Not quite. I want to get the camera, first.” Damien replied as he finished the pancakes and brought them over to the table.

Lucien sighed and sat back. He helped himself to the pancakes and scrambled eggs that were already on the table. He started to eat as his father got the camera.

“Alright, now you may open it,” Damien said with a happy smile, holding the camera at the ready.

Lucien grabbed the envelope again and pulled out the Hallmark card. When he opened it up, a small card fell out. He read through the card to appease his father before plucking up the little card that had fallen out and looking at it. It had a time written down on it along with that day’s date.

“What’s this, Dad?” He asked confusedly, looking up at his father who was beaming at him, the camera switched to the video function.

“That’s an appointment card for the tattoo parlor downtown. I took the liberty of taking that design you showed me a while back to them. If you want a tattoo, I’m not going to stop you from getting one. I just want to make sure you get one safely.” Damien explained, smiling at the way Lucien’s face lit up. He turned the camera off as his son got up and ran over to hug him tightly.

Damien grinned and hugged Lucien tightly, kissing his cheek and stroking his hair. “Happy birthday, darling boy.”

“Thanks, dad. This is awesome.” Lucien said with a happy grin. “Maybe one day you can get a tattoo, too.”

“Perhaps. We’ll just have to see.” Damien replied with a small smile to Lucien. “I have a couple more gifts for you, too. Why don’t you finish your breakfast, then you can open them? The tattoo should be done around dinner time, so we can go wherever you want tonight.”

Lucien nodded happily and let his father go so he could sit back down and finish eating his breakfast. His other gifts had consisted of a couple band shirts and a pair of jeans he’d been wanting for a while. He let his father take all the pictures he wanted of him and, when it was time, they both got into the car.

Lucien bounced his leg restlessly as he rode in his father’s car through Maple Bay. The car had only barely parked at the tattoo parlor when he let himself out. He happily led the way into the tattoo parlor.

“Are you nervous, darling?” Damien asked after he sat down next to Lucien on the couch in the waiting room.

“A little, but I’m more excited than anything,” Lucien replied.

“Good, I’m glad. Please feel free to show your tattoo to everyone on Saturday.” Damien replied with a smile.

“Don’t worry, I will. I’ll show Garrett especially.” Lucien replied with a small smirk. He didn’t remember much of Garrett other than the fact that he saw him every year on his birthday and that the man seemed to annoy his father. If someone was annoying to Damien, he was annoying to Lucien by default.

“That’s my darling boy.” Damien laughed, stroking his son’s hair.

When the artist came out to bring them back, Damien followed his son back to the chair. He watched as the artist placed the stencil of the design on Lucien’s lower back as he’d wanted. He let Lucien take hold of his hand as the artist started to work on the outline of the design.

The process took a few hours. Lucien talked to the artist a lot about her job and all the things she liked about it and what kind of schooling she’d needed for it. Damien kept his hand tightly in his son’s, letting the boy grip it as tight as he needed to once the artist began to color in the design. He didn’t speak up much. The whirring of the needle along with the music playing in the room made it hard for him to hear much besides the pounding in the back of his skull. He only let go of Lucien’s hand long enough to pop a couple ibuprofen into his mouth.

“Oh fuck, that’s so awesome.” Lucien hummed when the tattoo was finally done, admiring the design of a skull with roses that was newly placed on the right side of his lower back.

“It looks lovely, baby boy.” Damien agreed with a smile at his son as the artist wrapped the fresh tattoo up. He took the paperwork that detailed how to care for the new tattoo and put it in his pocket.

“I know where we should go for dinner, too.” Lucien hummed happily.

“Oh? And where’s that?” Damien asked as he paid the rest of the cost of the tattoo and moved to leave with his son.

“Let’s go to Olive Garden.” Lucien hummed.

“Ah, yes. The Applebee’s for people who like themselves.” Damien hummed with a small smile at the memory of his first date with Robert.

Lucien gave his father an odd look but decided not to question him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter for you wildcats cuz my winter break is done in a week, so it might be a hot minute till I can update again. I'll try to be a bit better, but with classes and work, I'm not making any promises.

“Thank fucking God for Amazon Prime.” Robert hummed to Betsy as he wrapped the little box just a few hours before he had to head over early to the Bloodmarch house for Lucien’s party. He’d wanted to get something he could be sure Lucien would like, but he just worried that Damien would be upset with him. In the end, he’d decided, ‘Fuck It’ and just bought the gift with overnight shipping.

After he’d showered and gotten dressed for the day, he let Betsy outside and made sure she would be alright for the few hours that he was next door. With that, he took the gift and headed over to the big black house next door.

“Oh, Christ, it’s you.” Lucien sighed as soon as he opened the door to see Robert on the other side.

“Nah, I think I’d be more the opposite,” Robert replied easily, handing the little box to Lucien as the teenager let him inside.

“Take your shoes off, Dad cleaned the floors like crazy yesterday,” Lucien grumbled as Robert ambled inside.

Robert took his shoes off obediently. “Speaking of your dad, where’s he at?”

“Upstairs bathroom. I think he’s finishing getting ready.” Lucien replied honestly, absently turning the small box over in his hands.

“Alright, cool. I should probably debrief him sometime before you open that thing so he doesn’t kill me.”

Lucien paused at that and looked up at the older man curiously. The box wasn’t that big, so he wasn’t sure what could possibly be in there that would anger his father. At least, he didn’t know what would be in there that Robert could give him that would anger his father. The box seemed about the size of a bracelet box he saw in jewelry commercials. He was pretty sure his dad wouldn’t be mad at a bracelet, so it couldn’t be that. He didn’t know Robert that well, but he didn’t think the other man would give him a box full of blunts for his birthday. The man was a recovering alcoholic, so he was pretty sure he could rule out a tiny bottle of Fireball, too.

“Robert. I didn’t hear you arrive.” Damien said as he walked down the stairs, smiling warmly at his boyfriend.

It looked like Damien had taken a more subtle approach for the day if anything he wore outside work could really be considered ‘subtle’. He was dressed in black dress pants, with a black button-down shirt tucked into it, and a black necktie. His eyes were painted with the usual berry color he always used.

“You look like Gerard Way,” Lucien said with a small smile.

“Who? Is that a compliment?” Damien asked, turning his attention to his son.

“Never mind. It’s a compliment.” Lucien replied, waving his hand in the air.

“The kid’s right, you know. You look good, Dames.” Robert hummed happily as he sidled over to Damien.

Damien grinned at that and moved to hug Robert tightly.

Robert smiled and kissed his cheek, rubbing his back gently before reaching down to pat his ass, smiling against his cheek.

“Oh, you,” Damien said with a deep flush as he pushed Robert away by the shoulders.

“Well, I’m gonna go over there,” Lucien said, leaving the scene as quickly as he could and moving to sit in the living room and start playing on his phone.

“Hey, they say finding something healthier to focus on helps with withdrawal symptoms. Last time I checked, you’re delicious and GMO-free.” Robert teased with a smirk.

Damien got even more flustered at that and looked away, though staying close to Robert and letting the other man hold him close in his arms.

“Please, just behave yourself when everyone starts to arrive.” Damien hummed, wrapping an arm back around the other man.

“Sure thing, Dames. What’s everyone’s ETA, anyway?” Robert replied.

“Well, Joseph and Mary and my younger brother should all be here in about half an hour. I think Garrett said he’d be here in about forty-five minutes.” Damien replied, checking the time on his phone.

Robert nodded easily. “Hey, can we talk in the kitchen quick? I just wanna make sure Lucien doesn’t hear.”

Damien cocked an eyebrow at him, but nodded and took Robert’s hand and walked back to the kitchen with him where they could have more privacy. “What do you want to talk about, dear heart?”

“The present I got Lucien. I just wanted to give you a heads up about it, so you don’t get mad or anything.” Robert explained.

“Whatever could you have gotten him that would anger me?” Damien asked.

“A really cool knife,” Robert replied easily.

Damien’s eyes went wide at that and looked at Robert, towards the living room, then back at Robert again. “You’re giving him a knife?” He whispered. “He’s only seventeen, Robert.”

“Yeah, but baby, he’s not gonna be seventeen forever. I’ll teach him how to use it safely so he doesn’t hurt himself with it. It’s a simple little thing. All it does is flip open and shut and it looks pretty.” Robert said, taking hold of Damien’s shoulders and rubbing his arms in an attempt to calm him. “I just figured, soon enough he’ll be out of the house and on his own. Let’s be real, he doesn’t have a lot of muscle to protect himself. A knife will be good for him, just in case. He should know how to protect himself.”

Damien listened to Robert, knowing full well that he had a point. It didn’t stop him from worrying about his baby boy and all the ways he could hurt himself with a knife. “Teach him thoroughly, Robert.” He finally sighed.

“I will, baby, don’t you worry. I can take the kid outside somewhere and show him how to cut rope and whittle and stuff with it. It’ll be like the Boy Scouts, except I’m not gonna make him sell popcorn that no one cares about.” Robert said, smiling when his joke made Damien laugh softly and smile a bit.

Damien smiled and kissed Robert’s lips softly, hugging the man close. “Alright, thank you. I know he’ll really like it.” He whispered, running his fingers through the other’s dark hair.

“No problem, Dames.” Robert hummed, leaning into his hands. “And, hey, maybe after this party is all done, we can relax together. I watched a video online on how to give massages once, so I’m pretty much an expert.”

“That sounds wonderful. I will have to hold you to that.” Damien hummed leaning forward to kiss his cheek.  

Robert grinned and opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

“Dad, people are here!” Lucien called from the living room.

“I gathered as much. I’ll be right there.” Damien called back with a small smile. He gave Robert one last kiss on the cheek before reluctantly peeling himself away to go to the door.

“Hiya, Neighbor!” Joseph said with a big grin as soon as the door was opened.

“Hey, Dames,” Mary said with a grin, handing him the bottle of red wine she’d brought along with, along with the gift bag for Lucien.

“Oh, Mary, you didn’t have to,” Damien said, stepping back to let the couple inside to take off their shoes and coats.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. Kids parties are more fun when you’re not sober, anyway.” Mary hummed happily, earning an awkward, breathy laugh from Joseph.

“Oh, hey, Rob’s here!” Joseph said, changing the subject as Robert walked into the room.

“Don’t call me that. Don’t ever call me that.” Robert replied.

In the living room, Lucien smiled a bit as he watched. While he still wasn’t the biggest fan of Robert, he disliked Joseph even more.

Joseph said nothing in reply and just went over to the living room. “Hi, Lucien! Happy Birthday! Where’re we putting the presents?”

“Uh, just the coffee table, I guess,” Lucien said, pointing to where he’d set the little box from Robert.

“Sounds good. Did you have a good birthday with your dad?” Joseph asked with a small smile at his godson.

“Yeah, it was good. Check this out.” Lucien replied, turning a bit and lifting up his shirt a bit to show Joseph the healing tattoo on his back.

“Oh, that looks really good. Now, did you get that one done professionally?” Joseph asked curiously.

“Yeah, Dad’s bigger gift to me was this tattoo. I’m trying to convince him to get one, too, now.” Lucien hummed, pulling his shirt back down.

“Hm. Well, Best of luck with that. I don’t think I can really see Damien with a tattoo, but who knows?” Joseph replied with a small smile, glancing over to where Mary was happily talking with Damien and Robert, her arms wrapped around the two men.

Damien smiled as Mary held him and Robert happily, letting her gush over the two of them proudly.

“Oh my God, You two are so adorable together. I’m the ultimate matchmaker.” Mary said with a grin. “You gotta make me the maid of honor at your wedding.”

“Mare, we’ve only been together for a few months,” Robert said with a small laugh.

“Robert’s right. If we get married, I’d rather it not be for a good while.” Damien agreed, smiling softly at his boyfriend. “Besides, I’m perfectly happy where we are right now.”

Mary smiled softly at the pair before ruffling their hair. “God, you two are so damn sweet. You never fight or argue or anything?”

“No, we don’t. Generally, if we need help understanding each other, we talk it over.” Damien replied to her. “I think I’ve only been upset with him once, but we worked it out. It’s behind us.”

“Whoa, weird. You guys have total harmony with each other?” Mary asked in awe.

“Well, yeah. Are you okay, Mare?” Robert asked with a frown.

“I’ll let you know on that one,” Mary replied after a moment of silence.

Damien glanced at Robert and made eye contact with him for a second before the doorbell rang again. “Ah, that’s probably Michael.” He said softly before heading over to the door when Mary let him go.

Robert watched around Damien as the other man opened the door to reveal a slightly younger brunette man in a sweater-vest and bow-tie. It only took until the pair was hugging each other for him to remember that the stranger was Damien’s younger brother.

“Happy birthday, Lucien!” Michael said with a grin as he took off his coat and shoes.

Robert kept his eyes on Michael curiously, glancing at him and Damien a few times. The lenses on Michael’s glasses were thick, like Damien’s, but his glasses were smaller and more rectangular. The more he looked, the more they seemed to have the same face, right down to the small bump on the bridge of their noses. Michael was a few inches taller than Damien, and his hair was more brown than black. Other than that, most of their differences boiled down to differences in style.

“Robert, this is Michael, my younger brother,” Damien said, walking with Michael over to him. “Michael, this is Robert, my boyfriend.”

“Oh, please, call me Mikey. It’s good to meet you, Robert. Damien’s talked about you a lot.” Michael said with a warm smile, shaking Robert’s hand easily.

“Yeah, it’s nice to meet you too,” Robert said easily, shaking his hand. “Holy shit, you two are basically identical.”

“If you think this is bad, you should see us with our mom. She has got to have the strongest genes in the world.” Mikey replied with a laugh. “It’s a miracle Damien got our dad’s hair instead.”

“I’m just happy our eyesight didn’t pass on to Lucien.” Damien hummed contently, glancing over at his son on the couch, chatting with Joseph.

“God, he’s growing like a weed, though.” Mikey sighed, watching his nephew with Damien and Robert.

“He is. You should see how he eats. I think he’s going to hit another growth spurt soon.” Damien agreed.

“He’s gonna be taller than you soon, Damey,” Robert said with a small smile, resting a hand on Damien’s back between his shoulders. “How tall is Garrett?”

“Absolutely gargantuan. I think he’s about six feet and four inches.” Damien replied.

“Well, at the very least, he’s gonna be taller than you,” Mikey said with a small smile to his older brother. “Not that it takes much, though.”

Damien shot a look at his brother before lightly smacking his arm. “I will have you know that I’m perfectly average, thank you.”

Robert smiled and laughed a bit as he watched the pair of brothers bicker lightly, holding Damien close to himself and rubbing his shoulder.

“Sure, alright. Keep telling yourself that, Damien.” Mikey laughed. “So, what do you do for a living, then, Robert?”

“Well, uh, I hunt cryptids, and then write books about them,” Robert explained, relaxing a bit when he felt Damien’s arm slip around him.

“Whoa,” Mikey said after a moment. “So, you try to find Bigfoot and stuff?”

“Yeah. One time I went on a Chupacabra hunt with a buddy down in New Mexico, real close to the border, you know? Close to two in the morning, we’re camping out in a little rental RV and we hear a crazy hissing outside. My buddy’s drunk on Fireballs at this point and decides to go out there with the video camera. The hissing starts to become straight up screeching. So, I grab my pistol and head out there, and sure enough, there’s the ugly little bastard, clawing the hell out of my buddy. I shoot the thing dead and load my buddy into the RV. We’re about twenty miles from any town, and he’s losing blood fast, but I’m driving like hell. We finally get to the ER and they have to give him a bunch of stitches and a transfusion, but they say he’s gonna make it. Once he’s discharged, we get breakfast burritos and decide to drive over to Sedona for some hippie watching.” Robert said, keeping a straight face.

Damien was listening intently, nodding every so often at the story. Mikey was staring at Robert in wonder.

“… Really?” Mikey asked in awe.

“Nah, I’m just kidding,” Robert replied with a small smile.

Mikey relaxed a bit at that.

“Or am I?” Robert continued, making Mikey tense up again. “I’m kidding.”

Damien smiled and laughed a bit before rubbing Robert’s back and letting the man hold him close.

“Well, uh, how did you meet my brother?” Mikey asked curiously.

“Well, technically, I’ve known him for years, but we never really talked much. I’ve been good friends with Mary, who’s also good friends with Dames. I’ve been around him, but we never really talked much. Doesn’t help that I was pretty convinced he was a vampire.” Robert explained.

“Around September, I had gone out with Mary for the night and, simply by chance, Robert was there, too. She caught me looking at him and left to talk to him for me. The next thing I know, Robert was sitting there, next to me,” Damien continued, moving to push his fingers through the other’s dark hair with a warm smile. “He must be the most ruggedly handsome man I’ve ever met. He smelled of whiskey and firewood. He asked me out to dinner, and I accepted. We’ve been together ever since.”

Robert smiled as he listened to Damien’s version of the story and let the other man play with his hair. It took all his willpower not to start kissing the other man right then and there.

“That’s sweet. You guys seem really happy together.” Mikey hummed with a small smile at them.

Damien grinned at that and opened his mouth to reply, though the smile fell when the doorbell rang one last time.

Mikey patted his brother’s arm for good luck before Damien peeled away from Robert reluctantly.

Damien paused in front of the door and took a deep breath before opening it and making eye contact with the man on the other side.

“Hi, Damien. Good to see you again.” Garrett said easily.

“Hello, Garrett,” Damien replied cordially, stepping aside to let the other man inside.

Robert felt his nose wrinkle involuntarily at the sight of the new guest. Garrett wore his long blonde hair in a bun. He was dressed in torn jeans, a dark green Henley shirt, and had a plaid flannel shirt tied around his waist.

“You’re looking good. How’ve you been?” Garrett asked Damien as he took his shoes off at the door and let Damien take his coat for him.

“I’ve been well. And yourself?” Damien replied.

“Can’t complain. I just moved out to Portland and opened my own fair trade coffee shop out there. It’s going pretty well.” Garrett hummed honestly.

“Whoa, a coffee shop in Portland. I’ve never heard of that before.” Robert murmured to Mikey, making him laugh and clap a hand over his mouth. “The only way this guy can get better would be if he vapes or smokes, but only the herbal cigarettes.”

“Just wait for his farmer’s market stories,” Mikey replied with a smile at Robert.

“Oh, Christ, I can’t. I can’t wait.” Robert replied with a small laugh, looking over as Garrett had Damien wrapped in an awkward hug. “Okay, I’m breaking that shit up.”

“Have fun.” Mikey hummed, moving over to Lucien to chat with his nephew.

Robert wandered over to Damien and Garrett, frowning a bit at how the taller man had lifted Damien off the floor. “Hey, babe, you want help with food or something?”

“Ah, yes. I’d love that.” Damien said, straightening out his clothes when he was finally released.

“I don’t think I’ve met you yet,” Garrett said with a small smile at Robert.

“I’m Robert Small, Damien’s boyfriend,” Robert replied, resting a hand on the small of Damien’s back before sliding it around his waist.

“Oh, I hadn’t heard of you,” Garrett replied easily.

“Robert, why don’t you and I get lunch ready?” Damien asked, leading the other man back to the kitchen.

“Fuck, he’s a douche. I thought you said he was grunge.” Robert said as he got to the privacy of the kitchen with Damien.

“He was, though that was about seventeen years ago,” Damien replied as he started getting everything out and ready.

“How do you go from grunge to hipster?” Robert asked, watching his boyfriend move about the kitchen.

“Your guess is as good as mine. It does seem like quite the jump, doesn’t it?” Damien mused, setting out a tray of chips with salsa and guacamole.

“Yeah, for real. Ooh, how hot are those?” Robert asked eagerly.

“The guacamole is very mild. Here, you can try the salsa, though.” Damien hummed, taking a bit of it onto one of the chips and dipping it in. He held it up to Robert’s mouth and smiled as his boyfriend ate from his hands.

“Oh, shit. Baby, did you make that yourself?” Robert asked, moving to get a glass of water.

“Yes, I did. Do you like it, my darling?”

“It’s perfect, Dames, absolutely perfect. You wanna try it?”

“Sure.”

Robert grinned at that and took hold of Damien’s shoulders, pulling the other man close to kiss him deeply.

Damien gasped, but quickly wound his arms around Robert’s waist and melted into the kiss. He could still taste the salsa on Robert’s tongue as the other man licked into his mouth. In a moment of confidence, he reached his hands down and grabbed onto Robert’s ass with both hands, smiling into the kiss and grinning when Robert pulled away at the sudden action.

“Whoa, whoa, baby. This is your kid’s birthday party we’re at.” Robert said though he had to admit the surge of confidence in Damien was turning him on.

“It’s payback for earlier,” Damien replied easily, pressing himself against Robert and biting his bottom lip teasingly.

“Fuck, I love you.” Robert breathed before taking Damien’s face in his hands and kissing him passionately once again.

Damien grinned into the kiss and hugged Robert close to himself, holding onto the man tightly as he kissed back and tried to match Robert’s passion. He held himself firmly against Robert, his hands rubbing up and down the other’s back over his leather jacket.

“Hey, I – Oh, shit, sorry,” Garrett said when he walked into the kitchen to see the pair kissing like it was the end of the world.

Damien pulled away from Robert, his face beet red when he whirled around to see Garrett standing in the entrance of the kitchen. He stood in front of Robert and held his hands behind his back and against Robert’s stomach as if trying to hide the taller man from his ex.

Robert smiled a bit at Damien’s reaction and gently took hold of his hands to try and relax the other man. He glanced up at Garrett and felt his smile fall when he noticed the soft way the other man was looking at Damien. He immediately let go of Damien’s hands and wrapped his arms around the other’s waist, holding him close against himself while staring Garrett down from behind his lover.

“I was just wondering if you needed any more help in here,” Garrett said.

“Right, lunch, yes…” Damien said, finally snapping back to reality and glancing over at where he’d spread out all the food and arranged everything so everyone could help themselves. “I don’t think so. I think everything is ready as it is. I’ll call everyone to eat.”

Robert reluctantly let Damien go to leave the kitchen. He glanced over at Garrett and frowned hard when he caught the other man staring at Damien as he left, following his gave down his boyfriend’s backside. Without much thought, he took one of the baby tomatoes that had been set out with a tray of vegetables and lobbed it at Garrett.

“Cool it with the eye-fucking, would ya?” Robert huffed once he had the other man’s attention.

“Sorry, man. Old habits, you know?” Garrett replied with a small smile to Robert.

“Yeah, that excuse doesn’t work when you’ve had a good decade to break the habit,” Robert replied, throwing another tomato at him.

Garrett caught that tomato and popped it into his mouth. “Well, the thing is, you never really get completely over Damien. I mean, yeah, he and I don’t really work well together. We never worked well together when we weren’t making out or fucking.” He thought aloud after swallowing.

Robert’s frowned hardened. Of course, Garrett had to bring up how he’d been with Damien before, at least enough to have a kid with him. He was clearly doing it just to piss him off, too. Low hanging fruit, douchebag.

“But, damn. Every year I come over for Lucien’s party, he still looks as amazing as he did when he was nineteen.” Garrett continued, moving to take one of the plates set out and help himself to the food. “Hey, you know how hot the salsa and guac are?”

“They’re both pretty mild,” Robert replied shortly.

Damien was one of the last people back in the kitchen. He returned after everyone else, Mary’s arm slung around his shoulders. Her brown lipstick had left multiple marks on his cheek. Robert sidled over to the two of them, relaxing when Damien took hold of his hand.

“He’s turning into a fine young man, isn’t he?” Damien hummed to Mary as they watched Lucien get his food and chat easily with his uncle.

“Yeah, he’s pretty good kid.” Mary agreed with a nod. “I like coming over to your place, Dames. I never hear the Disney Channel blaring when I’m over here.”

Damien smiled and laughed a bit. “Thankfully, I never had to worry about that. My boy was always more interested in Nickelodeon.”

“Our boy, technically,” Garrett commented as he wandered over to them with his plate.

Damien forced a smile at the other man. “If you would like to have this conversation again, we can. I won’t have it here, though.” He replied, speaking slowly and forcing himself to remain calm and polite.

Garrett just smiled at him. “You always were fun to rile up.”

“You’re insufferable,” Damien replied with a grin before walking away from Garrett to the food. The sooner he was busy with food in his mouth, the sooner he could avoid speaking to anyone for the sake of politeness.

Lucien noticed as his father came over, reading the slight frown on his face in an instant.

“Hey, you good, Dad?” he asked curiously as he ate contently.

“Yes, I’m quite alright. Don’t worry about me during your birthday party, Lulu.” Damien replied, wrapping his free arm around his son’s shoulders and kissing his temple adoringly.

Lucien decided not fight back against that and moved to sit down and start eating while everyone else eventually did the same around him, everyone chatting with each other. He kept an eye on his father, Robert, and Garrett. As much as he was still wary of Robert, his disdain for Garrett was even larger. Plus, Robert being around for the day seemed to make his father more comfortable than he’d ever been in past years. So, he figured he could give Robert a pass for the day. Enemy of my enemy, and all that.

After lunch came time for presents. On one hand, Lucien loved presents because he loved getting things for free. On the other hand, though, he hated presents since they forced him in the center of attention. Having a bunch of grown adults sit around and watch as he opened their gifts was the worst. He always had to put on a polite smile, read every little card and pretend not to notice the twenty dollar bills inside them until after he’d finished reading. Then, either Garrett or Mikey would make some dumb joke about it that either consisted of, ‘looks like you’re buying dinner tonight’ or ‘I can look after that if you want.’

His father, thank God, didn’t usually crack any of the dumb jokes. He did, however, always have the camera around his neck and a small notepad and pen at the ready. He’d stopped taking quite as many pictures while he was unwrapping the presents since his tenth birthday, though he kept his same habit of noting what everyone got him. In a week or so, he knew Damien would sit him down with a pen and blank thank-you cards and make him write out the little thank-you notes.

Lucien got settled on the couch in the living room while everyone else did the same. He saw Robert whisper something into Damien’s ear as they stood together, to which Damien nodded conspiratorially. Part of him wanted to know what they were talking about, another part of him really didn’t.

He worked through the presents one by one. He thanked everyone for the band t-shirts and art supplies politely, which made his father smile with pride from where he stood beside Robert.

“Alright, kiddo, last one,” Mikey said, handing the small rectangular box over to him. “Can’t tell who it’s from, though, since it’s not labeled.”

“Oh, yeah, this one’s from Robert,” Lucien said, taking the box, turning it over in his hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father get the camera poised.

He unwrapped the box, wondering what his father’s boyfriend could have gotten him, especially how obvious he’d made it that he wasn’t a fan of him. Under the wrapping paper was a small box that looked like it’d come from a jewelry store. He lifted off the lid and blinked in shock.

“What the hell?” he asked, pulling out the small object inside. It was about the size of his palm, and a polished holographic purple metal that shifted to green and blue with the light. He played around a bit with it, his eyes going wide when he flicked the knife open. From across the room, the camera went off and Garrett and Joseph gasped softly in unison.

Lucien broke out into a grin at the knife in his hand. “This is fucking awesome!” he gushed.

“Lucien, language.” Damien reminded him gently. “Please be careful with that, sweetheart.”

“Your dad’s right, kid. When the weather gets nicer, I’ll teach you how to use that thing properly.” Robert said, smiling at the teenager.

Lucien grinned at him and nodded, folding the knife up again and putting it back in the box where it was safe.

“I think I finally won over your son,” Robert whispered to Damien with a small smile.

“I do hope so,” Damien said, smiling warmly at his son.


	12. Chapter 12

“Hey, Dad, is the cake ready yet?” Lucien asked, looking up at him from the couch. 

“Not quite, but it would only take a minute or two to make it so,” Damien replied. “Are you hungry again, darling?” 

“I just really want cake now,” Lucien said with a shrug. 

“You want help setting it up?” Robert offered. 

“That might be nice. With that many candles on one cake, we’re sure to create a fire hazard.” Damien replied with a happy smile. 

“Dad…” Lucien groaned when his father’s teasing started a domino chain of the other guests laughing and teasing him over how old he was. 

Damien smiled at his son and moved to kiss his forehead. With that, he took Robert’s hand and lead him back into the kitchen, to clean up and get the cake ready. 

“I’m glad he likes the knife.” Robert hummed once they were alone together. 

“I’m glad he seems to be coming around with you,” Damien replied, moving to rub Robert’s shoulder. 

“That’s a bonus from the knife,” Robert said, wrapping an arm around Damien’s waist. “Maybe the kid’ll be open to Rob and Lulu bonding time now.” 

“I can only hope so. How are you planning to teach him to wield the knife?” Damien asked, moving with Robert to clean the leftover food from lunch while the other man stayed clung to him. 

“Oh, I’m gonna take him out to the woods, find some random sticks, and teach him how to whittle,” Robert said, taking one side of the sheet cake to help his boyfriend. 

“Whittling?” Damien repeated. “I never knew you knew how to whittle.” 

“Yeah, it’s fun stuff. It’s like knitting, but with a knife.” Robert replied. 

“Ah, I see. Well, I suppose giving him something constructive to do with the knife will make it more of a tool than a deadly weapon.” Damien thought aloud, deciding not to question what Robert had just said. 

“Yeah, that’s the plan. I mean, I’ll show him how to use it for self-defense, too. But mostly we’ll focus on carving wood into fun stuff. He likes artsy stuff, I feel like he’d be into it.” 

Damien nodded and kissed Robert’s cheek. “Make sure my baby can stay safe and keep his future home well decorated.” 

“Oh, I intend to. Don’t you worry, Dames.” Robert replied, kissing Damien back on the nose and smiling when it made the other man grin and blush. “Jesus, God, you’re so cute.” 

“Speak for yourself, Robert,” Damien replied, taking Robert’s face in his hands and stroking his cheekbones with his thumbs. 

Robert could have easily melted under the gaze of those purple colored contacts. He leaned forward just a bit so their foreheads were pressed together. 

“Hey, maybe in a year or two, would you open to getting married?” He asked. He had no idea what made him say it. It was like Damien’s presence was enough to hypnotize him into becoming a big gushy mess. 

Damien blinked at the question. The shock quickly phased into mental images of the two of them in the wedding ceremony he’d been quietly planning out since he was fifteen years old. 

Some of the finer details had shifted over the years, sure, but he’d developed one solid image through various daydreams in school or at work. First, there was the venue. That would be easy enough. There was a history museum in Boston that would be perfect. The idea of getting married and proclaiming his eternal love to Robert Small under the eyes of their friends, family, and the long-dead skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex would be nothing less than perfect. Decorations would be mostly provided by the surrounding landscape of the museum. Of course, they could add in various Victorian effects here and there, but the overall aesthetic would come from the building itself. Their vows would be handwritten for each other, and he’d have to make sure to have a handkerchief at the ready because he would start crying for sure. 

“Dames?” Robert asked, breaking him out of his trance. 

Damien blinked back to reality before smiling widely at Robert and nodding while his eyes started to water. “Yes, I’d like that very much.” 

Robert smiled at that. “I’ll propose properly when the time comes, I promise.” 

“I love you, Robert,” Damien said, the tears spilling over his cheeks. 

“I love you too, Dames,” Robert replied, using his sleeve to dry the other’s tears. 

Damien smiled warmly at Robert, moving to hug him tightly for a moment. “What would we do about last names? Would one of us take the other’s, or would we hyphenate our names together?” 

“Oh, I’m taking your last name for sure. Are you kidding me? Robert Bloodmarch. That’s fucking awesome.” Robert replied. “I’m gonna write books under that name from now on. Not even my usual lore shit. I’m gonna write a gay erotica about vampires under the pen name Robert Bloodmarch and I’m gonna go down in history like Oscar Wilde.” 

Damien grinned and started laughing as Robert talked while he moved to get the candles for the cake as well as the candle lighter out. “Robert Bloodmarch does have a lovely ring to it. It suits you.” 

“Right?” Robert agreed, smiling at the idea of adopting his boyfriend’s surname. “It’s seventeen candles, right?” 

“Yes, seventeen. Last year, I just had an edible picture of the movie poster for that movie with the young red-headed girl from The Breakfast Club.” Damien replied. 

Robert paused. “You put a picture of the Sixteen Candles poster on the cake? Really?” 

“No, but by God, I desperately wanted to.” Damien hummed. 

Robert burst into laughter as he poked the candles into the cake, just shaking his head. “Jesus, baby, where’ve you been all my life?” 

“I’ve been right here, your next-door neighbor,” Damien replied with a smile, kissing Robert’s cheek. 

“I should’ve looked harder for you.” Robert hummed, taking a bit of the piped icing from one edge of the cake and dabbing it onto the tip of Damien’s nose. 

“You came around in your own time. I’m amazed it took me so long to work up the nerve to speak to you.” Damien replied, pausing when Robert put the icing on his nose. He went cross-eyed briefly to look down at it. 

Robert laughed, happily watching his boyfriend attempt to reach the tip of his nose with his tongue with a look of intense concentration on his face. He reached over and wiped it back onto his finger, holding it out to the other. It was his turn to flush when Damien’s lips wrapped around his finger, keeping eye contact with him while he sucked the icing off. 

The teasing only lasted a couple of seconds, and when Damien released Robert’s finger with a soft popping sound, he gave the other a sweet, innocent smile. 

“You goddamn minx, you know exactly what you’re doing to me, don’t you?” Robert asked with a laugh. “Is this still payback for earlier.” 

“Perhaps. Perhaps I just wanted to see you flustered. Or, perhaps it was a combination thereof.” Damien replied, turning his attention back to the candles. 

“Clear your schedule for tonight, Dames. Maybe get a nap in later today. I guarantee you that we won’t be sleeping tonight, not the way you’re going.” Robert laughed. 

Damien was about to reply but got cut off by the sound of a throat clearing from the doorway. 

“You guys need any help in here? You’re taking a good while just for a cake.” Garrett asked. 

“That won’t be necessary,” Damien replied. “Though, if you want to tell the others that everything’s ready, that would be lovely.” 

“Does that guy just wait until we’re flirting to butt in?” Robert huffed. 

“I think he might be jealous of you, dear heart,” Damien replied with a small laugh. 

“I hope he is,” Robert replied softly as the group of guests all filed into the kitchen together. 

Damien put on a happy face again and went right back to gushing over Lucien, even if the boy got a little embarrassed by his constant affections. The boy complained lightly, but never pushed his father away. 

Lucien smiled obediently for the pictures, and then stood awkwardly as the group sang around him. Robert felt for the kid. The Happy Birthday Song was one of the worst, most awkward rituals for birthday parties. 

Damien made sure the camera was recording a video as Lucien took a big inhale and attempted to blow out the candles. Just like he’d done every year since he was a toddler, he sucked in as much air as he possibly could, and then tried in vain to extinguish the candles. Just like he always had, he let out too much air on the first few candles and only got about half of them out. Even at seventeen, it was as adorable as it had been when he was two. Damien had half a mind to find all those home videos from each of Lucien’s birthdays over the years, get the still images of him blowing violently at the candles on his cakes, and compile them all into one photo album. 

“Wanna cut the cake with your new knife?” Robert asked with a small smile. 

Lucien got a look of excitement and childlike wonder in his eyes at the suggestion. “Whoa, really?” 

“Well, you’d have to wash it. It might not be super effective, though.” Robert said with a shrug. “Maybe stick to a proper knife for cakes for now.” 

Lucien nodded in agreement. “Dad, can I cut the cake this year?” 

“Yes, but please be careful, Lulu,” Damien replied with a nod. 

Lucien nodded and smiled as he moved to get a knife from the knife block in the kitchen. The way he moved and smiled from ear to ear reminded Damien of the way Lucien always used to start playing with his new toys. It was the smile of a child who knew he was about to have a lot of fun. 

“You getting misty-eyed, there, Dames?” Mary asked him gently with a small smile. 

“My baby’s grown so quickly.” Damien nodded. 

Mary smiled gently and wrapped her arm around Damien’s shoulders, squeezing the man close to herself. “He did grow like a little weed, huh? I remember when he was a little bald newborn goblin-looking kid.” 

“Mare…” Joseph said with a small frown. 

“Oh, don’t get weird about it. All newborn babies look like goblins. It takes about a month of aging for them to really get cute.” Mary said to the pair of men, giving Damien one more squeeze before pressing a happy kiss to his cheek and patting it. “You and your baby are adorable, though, don’t worry.” 

“Thank you. Your breath smells like zinfandel.” Damien said with a small laugh. 

“I’ve got a glass I left in the living room. Once that one’s gone, I’ll officially be three sheets to the wind.” Mary hummed, happily taking her slice of cake when Lucien handed it off to her. 

Robert eventually found himself chatting with Mikey as they ate the cake together, the two of them keeping an inconspicuous eye on Garrett while he talked with Damien with an air of casual civility. 

“So, what’s that guy’s deal?” Robert asked between bites of chocolate cake. 

“Who, Garrett? I don’t really know. I never really got to know him that well. I’m not sure if that’s because we never spoke much or if I just don’t care enough to.” Mikey replied. 

“I don’t think he ever really got over Dames,” Robert said. 

“Yeah, he does stand weirdly close to him. He’s in his personal bubble all the time.” Mikey sighed. 

“That and he flat out told me he still thinks Damien’s hot,” Robert replied. 

“Yeah, well, he seems to have a thing for goths,” Mikey replied, smiling at the look Robert gave him. “Oh, yeah. You’re not Facebook friends with the guy. Everyone he’s been with has been goth. I guess it could be worse, though. He could be one of those weirdos who only date Asian girls.” 

Robert snorted at that. “You think it’s a weird sexual thing?” 

“Jesus, I mean, probably. Things between those two ended about as calmly and amicably as a dumpster fire. But he’s still got a thing for Damien. You don’t keep being sweet on an ex like that if you didn’t want in their pants again. Especially not after a break up like that.” Mikey replied with a small sigh. 

“Do you know anything about how they broke up. Dames never really gave me the full story. He just said he got pissed, threw shit, and that was that.” Robert asked curiously. 

“Oh, yeah. Well, they fought like crazy for a couple days before Garrett finally packed his bags. Damien would always call me over his lunch breaks at work and tell me about the previous night and that morning. When they were together, Garrett couldn’t really cook, so Damien did the cooking in the house - “ 

“While he was working a nine to five every day?”

“Yeah. Garrett only worked part-time, mind you. One of their last days, Damien told me he made a meatloaf. This was before he and Luce went vegetarian. It was the second meatloaf that week, and for whatever reason, Garrett complained about it. ‘Meatloaf again?’ or something like that. I feel like that was what really made Damien snap. He took the pan of meatloaf and pushed it into his face, and told him that if he didn’t like it, he could make dinner for once in his life.” 

“Jesus…” Robert breathed. It was hard to imagine his boyfriend getting that genuinely mad at anyone. 

“Yeah. If you think Lucien can be a little terror when he’s mad, you haven’t seen my big brother when he’s really, truly, one hundred percent pissed.” Mikey nodded. “To be fair, I think it was his time with Garrett that really gave Damien a self-esteem. Transitioning and being with him really helped his confidence. He was pretty quiet and wasn’t one of the most popular kids in high school. He wasn’t picked on, he was just ignored by the other students.” 

“True. I’m glad he’s feeling more comfortable in his own skin these days.” Robert hummed, smiling as he looked over to check on his boyfriend again just in time to see the man suck the icing off his fork before using it to discreetly stab Garrett in the thigh before he stalked away and walked over to Robert and Mikey by the cake. 

“He was starting to touch me too much for my comfort,” Damien explained softly to the pair. “Talk to me, please, it doesn’t matter what you talk about. Just to help me get my mind on something else.” 

Robert smiled and absently started to chatter away with Damien and Mikey about nothing in particular. He was more than happy to just have Damien’s attention for the rest of the party until it came time for people to start leaving for home. 

Mary left a few more lipstick marks on Damien’s cheeks before she and Joseph left first. Then, Mikey said goodbye to Robert, then Lucien, and then Damien, leaving with the promise that he’d call and text often and tell their parents they were doing well. 

Garrett was the last to leave, and he didn’t seem to be in as big of a rush about it. 

“Here, let me help you with that.” He said while Damien worked on putting the leftovers away in the refrigerator. 

“I can handle it, but thank you anyways,” Damien replied, turning away from the man when he’d tried to reach out to him. 

Lucien wandered over into the kitchen, having gotten rather bored. “Thanks for the knife again. It’s really cool,” he said absently to Robert, stopping to stand next to the older man, so the two of them could watch protectively over Damien. 

“I’m glad you like it, kiddo. Soon, I’ll teach you how to use it properly.” Robert said with a small smile. 

“What about tomorrow? I’m free tomorrow.” Lucien suggested. 

“You don’t wanna go to church on a Sunday morning?” Robert asked, feigning shock. 

“Look me in the eyes and ask me that again,” Lucien said with a small sigh. 

“I know, I know. I’m just kidding. I promised your dad he could unwind at my place tonight, but tomorrow should work. I can take you out to my secret hideaway.” 

Lucien blinked at that and looked up at Robert. “Your secret hideaway?” 

“Oh, yeah. I saw the Jersey Devil there once.” Robert nodded. “It’s a cool little spot, a little outside of town.” 

“What’s the Jersey Devil?” 

“You’re a full seventeen years old and you don’t know about the Jersey Devil? Good Lord, Lulu, next you’ll be telling me you don’t know what a Wendigo is.” 

“I don’t, though. What are they?” 

“Oh, boy, sit down for this.” Robert hummed, leading Lucien over to the kitchen table, taking out his phone to show Lucien drawings of the Jersey Devil from Google. “So, way back in the 1700’s, there was this lady, Jane Leeds. Lady had twelve fuckin kids, and this was back before C-Sections were invented. She was about to have a thirteenth and she wasn’t excited about it. Which, I mean, understandable. So, she cursed the kid, saying that the thirteenth kid would be the Devil. When the kid was finally born, it wasn’t human. The thing turned into some sort of monster with a goat head, bat wings, cloven hooves, and a forked tail. Basically, that weirdo on the screen, there. It killed the midwife and flew up the chimney, screaming like a stupid head, and took to the woods. Around 1910, there were a bunch of sightings of the thing. It’s supposed to kinda chill out around the southern end of New Jersey. I’ve seen it up here in Massachusetts, though, I swear.” 

Lucien listened intently to the story, looking down at the picture on the screen. “Weird. What about the Wendigo, then? Are they the same?” 

“God, no. The Wendigo is an Algonquin creature, so most of the stories of them come from the Ojibwe, the Cree, those guys. They’re just big, gaunt, scary looking freaks that eat human beings. They grow in proportion to whatever they eat, so they can’t ever be full.” Robert replied, smiling at the look of disgust and slight fear on the teenager’s face. “They’ve only really been spotted around northern Minnesota and into Canada, though, so you shouldn’t worry too much about them.” 

Lucien nodded, relaxing visibly at that. “Alright, good.” 

He looked over to see Damien and Garrett clearly bickering but keeping their voices low so they wouldn’t upset him. The look of annoyance was clear on his father’s face, and the pronounced way his mouth moved as he spoke. Lucien didn’t really know what they were bickering about that time, but he really didn’t care. Knowing the two of them, it had something to do with parenting. Either way, though, his father looked stressed and it was clearly because of Garrett. The sooner the other man left the house, the sooner they would have peace. 

“He is way too young to have a tattoo. I can’t believe you paid your own money for something like that. That better not have come from the child support.” Garrett hissed to Damien. 

“Will you relax, please? It was my own money, and I’d rather he got a safe, professional tattoo than one by someone in the back of a truck.” Damien whispered back as he put the leftover vegetables back in the refrigerator. “Besides, we were only a few years older than him when we had a child. There are worse things he could do.” 

“What if he decides he regrets the tattoo in a few years? It’s a lot more expensive to get rid of a tattoo, you know.” Garrett said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“You know how many people said the same thing about my transition. He’s wanted a tattoo for years, I don’t think he’ll regret it.” Damien replied. 

Garrett huffed and fell silent for a beat. “I hate it when you pull the trans card.” 

“You only hate it because you can’t win our arguments anymore,” Damien replied with a small, warm smile.  

“I’ll figure out a trump card for next time,” Garrett replied, softening at the sight of his ex’s smile and reaching over to gently pinch his cheek playfully, just like he always had roughly seventeen years earlier. “Has he said anything about college or plans after high school yet?” 

“He has been looking at art schools around the region. He wants to be a tattoo artist, I think.” Damien replied with a small smile. “He was adorable when he was getting his tattoo. He kept asking the artist all these questions about the needles and her job. He was like a child in a candy store.” 

“If he gets good at tattoos, he can make good money. There’s a big demand for really good artists, and people are willing to travel across the country for a really great tattoo.” Garrett hummed. “I kinda hoped he’d go to a business school, but I guess I should’ve known better with him.” 

“I can’t imagine him being truly happy in a cubicle. The boy has an artist’s soul.” Damien thought aloud. “Where are you staying tonight?” 

“What, do you want me to stay the night here?” Garrett asked with a smirk.

“Absolutely not,” Damien replied shortly. “If it’s out of town, you should leave soon to beat the rush hour.” 

“I got a hotel in downtown Maple Bay, so it’s not that big of a deal. I can stick around for a while longer.” 

“Ah, well, I told Robert I would help him with his dog later on tonight.” Damien lied with a smooth face. 

“You kicking me out, Dames?” Garrett asked with a small laugh. 

“Yes, I’m sorry, but I am.” 

Garrett smiled at that and leaned down to get his face closer to Damien’s. The man had practically been an Amazon before transitioning and had been left on the shorter side of average. He wasn’t short, by any means, but Garrett was considerably taller than him and liked to tease him about that whenever he could. 

“I don’t know, Dames. You might have to make me.” Garrett hummed. 

Damien frowned, more than familiar with this particular game. Garrett did this every year, and every year it ended the same way. 

“No. We’re not doing that this year,” Damien replied, crossing arms over his chest. 

“I’m not gonna leave until you try. If you hate it so much, maybe you should start working out so you can finally win for once.” Garrett said with a shrug.

Damien huffed and glanced over at Robert, flushing a bright red when he realized his boyfriend would see him embarrass himself. The sooner he appeased Garrett, the sooner the other would leave. 

“Fine.” He sighed before putting his arms out and started his annual attempt at using his own strength to physically push the man out of his house. 

Robert blinked at the sight. Part of him wanted to help Damien out, but another part of him found it entertaining and endearing to watch a man who clearly had no athletic talent and little to no visible muscle on his body push a larger man. Damien had shifted from using his hands to push Garrett to use his shoulder, struggling to get any sort of momentum to make the task easier. Garrett was smiling happily the whole time. 

“Alright, he shouldn’t really get winded while wearing a binder.” Robert piped up after a bit, getting up from the table to gently guide Damien away. The man was breathing heavily, and his face was flushed pink like he’d just gotten out of a gym after a hard workout. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll bother you guys later.” Garrett laughed, waving to Damien and ruffling Lucien’s hair before the teenager could dodge his hand. “Happy birthday, Luce.” 

Lucien mumbled a ‘thank you’ in reply, just so his father wouldn’t scold him for being rude. He waited until he heard the front door open and close before speaking again. “Fucking asshole.” 

“Language, Lucien,” Damien said, taking the glass of water from Robert thankfully and downing it. 

“Sorry. Fucking meany.” Lucien said. “You are pretty out of shape, though, Dad.” 

“I know I am. I don’t go to the gym because I’m uncomfortable with my body, but I’m uncomfortable with my body because I don’t go to the gym.” Damien sighed, leaning into Robert as the other man held him close. 

“Irony can be so painful.” Robert laughed, kissing Damien’s forehead and hugging the other man close to himself. “I think you’re fine. Maybe just build up a little bit of strength, if anything. No need to get huge like Craig or anything.” 

“So, are you going for the night soon?” Lucien asked curiously. 

“Ah, yes. I’ll need to take out my contacts first, at least.” Damien said with a nod. 

“‘At least.’” Robert purred. 

“Jesus, God.” Lucien groaned. 

“Will you be alright if I leave for the night? Should Robert just spend the night here?” Damien asked his son with a small worried frown.

“No!” Lucien replied quickly. “I’d rather you guys got a room that’s not in this house.” 

Damien smiled and moved from Robert’s arms to kiss his son’s cheek. With that, he walked out of the room to go up the stairs to the master bathroom. He took out his contacts and washed the makeup off his face before pushing his glasses on. Then, he looked himself over in the mirror to make sure everything was perfect. After a moment, he decided to brush his teeth and rinse with mouthwash. After that, he decided he didn’t have enough time for anything else, especially since Robert was waiting downstairs and he’d been teasing the man all through the day. 

“Alright,” He said after returning to the pair, who were now in the living room. “Lulu, I’m going to give you money, in case you want to order pizza tonight for dinner.” 

“Awesome,” Lucien said, taking the twenty-dollar bill from his father and pocketing it. 

“Be good, call me if you need anything. I love you.” Damien said, taking Lucien’s face in his hands. 

“I love you, too, Dad. Don’t get AIDS, you don’t wanna give the assholes another statistic to use against the gays.” Lucien replied with a small smile. 

Damien blinked in shock at the words before flushing and just kissing Lucien’s cheek. “Good night, Lulu.” 

Robert smiled and laughed happily as he listened to the pair’s banter. “You’ve got one funny kid.” he hummed as he walked out with an arm around Damien’s shoulders after they’d both donned their winter coats. 

“I’m glad you two are starting to get along better,” Damien replied with a happy smile to him. “The two men I love the most in the world are finally starting to connect.” 

Robert smiled at that and pulled Damien close to kiss his temple adoringly. “I think it was the knife that did it.” 

“I think you’re right,” Damien replied contently, keeping close to Robert until they got to his front door, and Betsey ran over to him, jumping on his legs. With that, he broke out into a grin and scooped the dog up into his arms, letting her lick his cheek. 

He happily spent a little while on Robert’s living room couch, hugging and snuggling the Boston terrier, which gave Robert time to get her food ready in the kitchen. 

“So, I think we should start with a massage. You seemed pretty stressed back there.” Robert hummed. 

“That would be lovely,” Damien replied with a grin and a nod. 

“Great. I’m gonna let Betsey out, and you can undress to your comfort level.” Robert hummed. 

“I’ll meet you in your bedroom,” Damien replied with a smile to Robert, kissing his lips softly. 

“Perfect.” Robert breathed against his lips, reluctantly pulling away to tend to his dog, who was waiting at the door for him. 

Damien grinned and got up. He started to strip off his clothes as he walked down the short hallway to the master bedroom of the house, letting his clothing fall to the ground and form a trail to the bed. He got settled on the large bed completely naked, and stretched out contently, letting his dark hair fan out around his head like a halo, knowing full well it drove Robert crazy. 

Robert hummed happily to himself as he returned inside with Betsey. He made sure the dog had enough food and water for the night before following Damien’s trail back to his bedroom. He picked up each article of clothing for the other man, quietly swearing up and down that he would marry the other man one day. At the sight of Damien, nude and sprawled out on his bed, he had half a mind to skip the wedding and elope with him as soon as he could. 

“Christ, baby, you’re fucking perfect.” Robert breathed, setting the clothes aside and crawling onto the bed to straddle Damien’s hips, humming as he let the other man’s hands rest on his thighs. 

“Speak for yourself, dear heart.” Damien purred in reply, leaning up to pull Robert down to the bed with him and kiss him deeply. 

Robert grinned at that and kissed Damien back, running his fingers through the other’s long, silky hair. “Flip over, I’m gonna rub your back.” he breathed after a little bit. 

Damien nodded and turned over to lay on his stomach underneath Robert. He relaxed as soon as the other’s warm, strong hands started to rub out his muscles and the knots in his back and shoulders. He would later swear up and down that he hadn’t meant to make the noises he did while Robert was giving him a massage. While it would have been fun to tease him, the noises were completely involuntary. 

Robert got rather distracted in the middle of the massage and leaned down to start to kissing Damien’s shoulders and neck. It wasn’t long until Damien had flipped back over to his back so he could face Robert. He stayed facing Robert for the rest of the night. 

In the morning, Damien woke up to find the bed empty, the sheets on Robert’s side of the bed folded back, though his pillowcase still smelled like him. As he slowly woke up, he found he could hear Lynyrd Skynyrd playing in the kitchen, accompanied by Robert singing along, albeit not very well. 

Damien smiled and got up to pull on his discarded underwear, followed by his binder, and the nearest shirt, which just so happened to be one of Robert’s many red t-shirts. This particular one smelled just like it’s owner, making Damien wonder how much Robert would miss it if it suddenly went missing. He took a break from happily inhaling his lover’s scent to push on his glasses and start limping out to the kitchen. 

“Good morning, my love.” he crooned, walking up behind Robert to hug him from behind. 

“Well, hello there. How’d you sleep, Damey?” Robert asked with a small smile. 

“Wonderfully. And yourself?” Damien replied. 

“Like a rock. I hope you’re hungry for eggs and peach tea.” Robert hummed, kissing Damien quickly on the cheek. 

“That sounds divine. How are you feeling this morning? I didn’t hurt you at all, did I, when I….?” Damien worried

“No, no. Don’t worry about me, Dames. I bounce back fast, I promise. I’m barely even limping at all.” Robert laughed, gently pushing the other over to the small kitchen table. 

In a few minutes, the scrambled eggs and the peach tea was ready, and they were eating together at the little round table, chatting contently all the while. After that, Damien got showered for the day, grinning widely when Robert mentioned that, yes, he could go ahead and keep that particular red t-shirt. 

Once they were both cleaned, dressed, and ready to go for the day, they walked together back to Damien’s house. 

“Heya, Lucy!” Robert called contently once they were both inside, smiling when the teenager came shambling out of the kitchen, carrying a bowl of cereal with him. 

“Oh, hey. Lemme finish eating and get dressed and we can head out.” Lucien said tiredly to Robert. While he normally wouldn’t have been too crazy about seeing his father in Robert’s clothes, the red shirt seemed to be what was making Damien grin from ear to ear, so he didn’t say anything. 

“Sounds good to me,” Robert said easily. He stayed and chatted with Damien about whatever came to their minds while Lucien finished getting ready for the day. After a few minutes, the boy came back, visibly more awake and excited, the box holding his new knife in hand. 

“Ready?” Lucien asked Robert. 

“When you are,” Robert said, kissing Damien’s cheek goodbye. 

“Dad, you want me to leave you some money in case you want to order a pizza?” Lucien teased. 

Damien laughed and moved to kiss Lucien’s cheek and blow a raspberry onto it. “Be good for Robert, Lulu.” 

Lucien wrinkled his nose at the raspberry and wiggled out of his father’s grasp to get his winter coat and boots on. 

“Take care of my baby, darling,” Damien said to Robert, though he knew he didn’t have to tell him. 

“Of course. We won’t be out for too long. If we are, I’ll feed him lunch before bringing him back to you.” Robert promised, kissing Damien goodbye one more time. 

With that, he walked out of the house with Lucien, leading the teenager over to his truck in his own driveway. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to anyone who found the Bo Burnham reference :)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy belated Dad's day everyone! The next chapter might be up faster than this one was. The wip pics of the update the Dream Daddy team posted on Twitter got my hype as hell.

“Alright, kid, buckle up,” Robert said as he got settled in the front seat of the truck. 

“Where are we gonna go?” Lucien asked curiously, getting settled in the passenger seat and watching Robert as the man pulled out of his driveway, then out of the cul-de-sac. 

“I like to call it Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Crackhouse,” Robert replied.

Lucien blinked in shock at the reply and fell silent as he tried to think of a way to reply. 

“I’m kidding. It’s just a little wooded area outside of town.” Robert said, cracking a smile over at the teenager. 

“Oh.” Lucien sighed. “Hey, do you think Dick Cheney ever did crack?” 

“Probably. He probably did it once in his life in college or something.” Robert replied. “So, Luce, do you and your dad have any big Christmas plans or traditions?” 

“Uh, we usually just do Christmas together. Dad stresses about making a big breakfast and dinner on Christmas. I think it’s a former Catholic thing. We like to put on the Macy’s parade and watch that, and then we find that one channel that plays A Christmas Story for twenty-four hours and leave that on until we can’t stand it anymore. We don’t really ever sit down and watch the whole movie in one sitting, but we kinda catch scenes here and there, so we get the whole movie, but not really in order.” 

“That’s pretty solid. I’ll check in with your dad, but Val’s coming down and I think she wants an excuse to investigate him some more.” 

“So, like a big family thing?” Lucien asked.  

“Yeah, kinda like that,” Robert replied. 

“I guess that would be okay. Dad’ll stress about the food even more, but he would’ve done that either way.” Lucien said with a shrug. 

“Hey, while we’re on the topic of family, how much would you hate it if I asked your dad to marry me? Not right now, but down the line. In a year or so, maybe.” Robert asked at a red light, looking over at the teenager. 

“Really? I didn’t peg you as a marriage guy.” Lucien said. 

“Yeah, well, he and I kinda discussed it last night. I don’t think I’m ever gonna find anyone better than him. We both decided that we’d be open to marriage in the future. Would you be okay with that?” 

“Yeah, I guess so,” Lucien said after a bit of silence. “He always gets super happy when you’re around.” 

Robert couldn’t help but smile a bit at that. Now that Lucien mentioned it, Damien always seemed to start grinning whenever he saw him. It was strange to think that he could make the man so genuinely happy just by existing, but he wasn’t complaining. 

He kept relatively quiet as he drove, just letting Lucien fiddle with the radio stations until the boy paused and the car filled with the sound of Carrie Underwood singing about all the ways she wanted to fuck up her cheating boyfriend’s car. Robert glanced over at Lucien to see the teenager looking out the window, but the reflection of him in the side mirror showed him melodramatically mouthing the words to the song. He smiled at the sight as he kept his eyes on the road. 

In a few minutes, they’d arrived at an outlook outside of town that looked over Maple Bay. The clearing was pretty snowy, but not too icy. It was a perfect area to teach Lucien how to use the knife. 

“Are we here?” Lucien asked once the engine cut. 

“Yeah, hop on out, soldier,” Robert replied, grabbing one of his own knives for demonstration purposes as he slid out of the truck. 

Lucien got out of the truck with his new knife, trying and failing at covering up how excited he was. 

“What are we gonna do first? Are you gonna teach me how to stab stuff?” He asked, flipping the knife open and waving it around in the air fast enough to make a whistling sound. 

“Whoa, whoa. Chill out, crazy ass.” Robert said. “I told your dad I’d teach you how to use that thing responsibly. First things first, I want you thinking of that knife as a tool, not a weapon.” 

“What if someone attacks me?” Lucien asked with a small frown. 

“Then, it can be a tool for self-defense. But that’s only self-defense, alright? Knives are good things to keep around, just in case. Personally, I think they’re better for survival than guns. With a gun, all you can do is hurt or kill something. Knives can be used to hurt or kill, yeah, but they’re also good for cutting stuff. A good sharp knife could be the difference between life or death if you get stranded in the woods somewhere.” Robert said, moving to show Lucien how to grip the handle of the knife. 

“I guess that makes sense,” Lucien said softly. 

“You were looking at big art colleges, right?” Robert asked. 

“Uh, yeah. Why?” 

“Well, firstly, don’t go to any of those Art Institute of Whatever colleges. Those are scams and you won’t get the education you need. Secondly, usually those big colleges tend to be in big cities, so you should know how to defend yourself if anyone tries to start shit with you. You have any idea where you wanna go in particular?” 

“Uh, I kinda wanted to go to either Boston or New York. I don’t wanna be too far away from Dad, but I wanna get out of Maple Bay, you know?”

“Oh fuck yeah. Spread your wings and get out of town, kid.” Robert replied. “Well, Boston can be a mean town, but trust me when I say that New York’s meaner.” 

Lucien nodded and listened attentively as Robert taught him the best way to stand and hold the knife, followed by how to protect himself if the other guy had a knife as well. 

“Yeah, so you put some fabric like an old sweater or something over the blade before you grab it. Then, you go ahead and kick whoever’s trying to fuck with you. If a lady’s trying to stab you, don’t feel bad about defending yourself. Also, don’t believe the lie that kicking a chick between the legs won’t hurt her as bad as it would a guy. Just kick or bring your knee up as hard as you can and make a break for it.” Robert said, showing Lucien how to cover the knife’s blade with an old flannel shirt he’d had in his truck. 

“Kicking people in the genitals always works. Got it.” Lucien said with a nod. 

“Exactly. Now, you want me to show you the best and coolest thing you can do with a knife?” Robert asked. 

“Yeah,” Lucien replied with a nod. 

“Great. Go over there and grab a thickish stick. Like, maybe two or three inches in diameter.” Robert said. 

Lucien gave him an odd look but quietly walked over to the starting point of the grove of trees. He found a relatively thick branch that had fallen off one of the trees and brought it back to Robert. “What do I do with this?” 

“Here, give it to me,” Robert said. He rolled up his sleeves and took the branch from Lucien before promptly breaking it over his knee. 

Lucien blinked at the way the man split the branch like it was an uncooked spaghetti noodle. He suddenly understood why his father was so attracted to the guy. He personally found himself both respecting the man and fearing him while starting to question his own sexuality. 

In a minute, Robert had broken the branch enough to cut a pair of similar wooden cylinders. 

“What do I do with this?” Lucien asked, taking the small chunk of wood. 

“Cut it into a shape. I don’t know, maybe make something your dad would like.” Robert replied, pulling his own knife from his back pocket and starting to make small cuts in the wood. 

“We’re whittling?” Lucien asked. 

“Yep. You’re only limited to your own imagination, kiddo. Just be careful not to cut yourself or get too many splinters.” Robert nodded. 

Lucien looked down at the small cylinder of wood in his hand and looked over to watch Robert cut away at the wood, bit by bit. Sculpture had never been his forte, but he figured he could try. He had no idea what he should try to create, so he just started to cut away the wood like Robert until the wood had some semblance of an organic shape. He glanced over at Robert, who was expertly shaving bits off the wood here and there to form what was already starting to look like a convincing representation of a rose. His chunk of wood just looked like the state of Montana. 

He huffed a bit through his nose as he stared at the wood, hoping that it would give him some sort of inspiration. Somewhere, he heard a crow calling as it flew overhead and into the thicket of trees. Then, without much more thought, he started to cut away the wood strategically to start making a crow. 

He and his father had always rather liked corvids. While some girls in fifth grade were in their horse phase, he wound up in a raven phase. He would always find new videos of ravens talking to excitedly show Damien when he came home from work. At night, before he went to sleep, he’d insist that Damien either read him The Raven or come up with some story about Odin’s Ravens from Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn. Then, in place of swearing in school, he would say ‘Odin’s Ravens!’ That particular memory made him frown and inwardly cringe. And he always wondered why he had one friend until seventh grade. 

Then came the memory of that one trip to the Boston Zoo on that one summer day when Damien had the day off of work. There was a show that displayed the many types of birds the zoo had and taught about the conservation of them. When Damien had volunteered himself, he’d tried to send mental messages to the woman running the show not to call on him so he wouldn’t personally get embarrassed. However, Damien ended up being chosen and happily going down to let the woman guide the zoo’s raven to fly down and land on his forearm. When he held his arm just about a foot from his side, the bird was big enough to look into his father’s eyes. For whatever reason, Lucien had never considered exactly how big ravens could get. But, there his father was, slathered in sunblock but still managing to somehow get a bit pink from the sun, his dark hair pulled up off his neck, and a huge raven perched on his arm. Lucien took a bunch of pictures with the camera Damien had left in his seat, smiling to himself as he quietly decided he had the coolest dad in the world. 

“Hey,” Robert said, snapping Lucien from his trance. “Hey, are you cold at all?”

Lucien looked up from the wood he’d been cutting with his brain on autopilot. “Kinda, yeah. I guess so.” 

“You close to being done? Maybe we could stop by the Coffee Spoon on the way home. Warm up a bit.” Robert asked. 

“I think I’m as done as I’m gonna be,” Lucien said, looking down at the lumpy wooden bird in his hand. He folded his knife back up and slipped it into his pocket. 

“Is that, like, a pigeon?” Robert asked when he looked down at the wooden creation. 

“Oh, shut up.” Lucien huffed, turning away to get back in Robert’s truck. He knew his wooden raven was far from being perfect. For one thing, it didn’t have any legs. It’s overall composition consisted of one small lumpy sphere on top of a larger, just as lumpy oval, with what could only be assumed was a beak. 

Robert got into the car and started it up to make it warm up faster before he buckled himself into the seat. 

“You know, it doesn’t look that bad. Maybe you could paint it or something.” He commented after spending a little bit of time driving in silence. “I never pinned you as a bird guy. But, eh, whatever.” 

“It’s supposed to be a raven,” Lucien said, not looking away from his window. 

“Oh, well that makes sense, then.” Robert hummed. “It’s pretty awesome for your first time.” 

“Don’t bullshit me. It’s not that great.” Lucien huffed. 

“Look, kid, do you think I came out the pussy whittling fucking Mozart? You gotta practice and build up to that. I know for a fact that you’re better at drawing than I am, cuz you’ve been at it a while and I don’t really draw at all. And your dad’s better at computer stuff than either of us, cuz he’s been doing it for years. Honestly, I don’t really even know what he does for sure.” 

Lucien blinked at the words and looked over at Robert as the man spoke and drove. He hated to admit it, but the man had a point, no matter how weirdly that point was stated. “Dad’s a corporate hacker.” 

“He’s a what?” Robert asked in awe. 

“The way I understand it, he basically works for a software and web design company and he reviews whatever they put out for bugs and places the code can be hacked or whatever,” Lucien explained with a small shrug. 

“Whoa. Do you think he’s on some FBI list?”

“I dunno. Probably.” 

“Damn. He’s one of those nerds that could ruin you.” Robert chuckled at the thought. 

Lucien just rolled his eyes before reaching over to change the radio station. 

“Jesus fuck, they’re playing Christmas music already.” He groaned. 

“Well, yeah, it’s less than three weeks till Christmas.” Robert chuckled. 

“If they play it too early, you get burned out. They should save it until the twentieth, at least.” Lucien replied. 

“There’s never a bad time for Carol of the Bells, kid. That shit bumps. Especially that Trans-Siberian Orchestra version.” 

“You’re crazy.” Lucien laughed. 

“Youtube it, it’s awesome. You’re just bitter cuz Evanescence never put out a version of Jingle Bells or something.” 

“Oh, shut up,” Lucien replied with a roll of his eyes. 

Within a few minutes, they were back in town and parking outside of the small coffee shop. Lucien followed Robert into the shop, looking around absently. The inside was decorated for Christmas, but not in an obnoxious way. There were fake poinsettias scattered around the shop, and a small fake Christmas tree was sitting on the front counter. Settled on the top of a decorative shelf on the wall was one of those Elf on the Shelf dolls. 

“Hey, Rob! What’ve you been up to?” Matt said with a smile at his neighbor. 

“Not much. Playing with knives with a teenager.” Robert replied with a shrug. “What’s good today?” 

“Pretty much anything that’s hot’s good.” Matt chuckled. 

“Can I have a hot chocolate?” Lucien piped up. 

“Sure thing, Luce. What about you, Rob?” Matt replied. 

“I’ll have one of those peach teas. Actually, make that two, we’re heading home.” Robert replied, pulling out his wallet to pay for the drinks. 

“You still hooked on that tea Damien set you on?” Matt chuckled. 

“Hey, it’s good shit. He knows what he’s talking about.” Robert replied. 

“Well, if anyone knows anything about tea in this town, it would probably be him.” Matt said with a small shrug, turning around to get started on the drinks with the teenager behind the counter with him. 

“You think your dad was okay while we were out?” Robert asked Lucien, who’d pulled out his phone and was tapping away at the screen. 

“He was probably stressing about Christmas again or something. He always freaks out about Christmas and we’re not even religious, and Uncle Mike’s the only family who talks to us still.” Lucien sighed, rolling his eyes at the thought. “I don’t know why he even bothers sending cards to those assholes anymore. He does it every fucking year, handwritten on nice paper and everything. Not that stuff you can buy a huge pack of like four hundred sheets for five dollars at Walgreens, the fancy stuff that’s kinda heavy and you gotta go to Staples or some craft store for. They’ve never sent us a card and newsletter and all that. Not even some shitty Hallmark card they signed their names on.” 

Robert cocked an eyebrow when Lucien suddenly got talkative, but he wasn’t about to complain. The kid was opening up, so he’d take what he could get. 

“Well, maybe try seeing it from your dad’s point of view. He said he was raised Catholic way out in Kansas. I know jack shit about Kansas, but I know that it’s kinda in the Midwest. Family was probably a pretty big part of his life for most of it. Maybe he’s still kinda hoping they’ll come around.” Robert tried, gently patting Lucien on the shoulder. “Have you ever actually asked him?” 

“Yeah. He always just says, ‘They’re family’ or some dumb cliche bullshit like that. Like, yeah, by blood. But they haven’t seen me since I was a toddler, they haven’t spoken to him in forever. They’ve obviously decided they don’t give a rats ass about us, so why should he keep bending over backward for them?” 

“Listen, Luce, I hear you. I’d stop bothering with them, too.” Robert said. “If it’s really bothering you, we can try to ask him together. Maybe the tea will sweeten the pot a little bit and he’ll be more apt to talk.” 

“Alright, maybe.” Lucien sighed, looking over when Pablo set their drinks up on the counter and put them in a small carrier. He carried them out to Robert’s truck and took a sip of his hot chocolate once he was seated and buckled. He winced as the hot liquid burnt a trail down his tongue. 

Now that it was on his mind, he couldn’t help but think about his father’s kind of stupid tradition of Christmas cards and letters talk about the year they’d had to a family who would never respond. The more he stewed over the thought of his father hunched over the fancy paper, his big glasses slipping off his nose and his hair tied back from his face to slave over handwriting multiple copies of a letter for his parents, siblings, aunts, and uncles, the angrier he got. The only reply they’d ever get from those people would be from Mikey, who always wrote a long letter in reply to tell them all about the rest of the family along with himself. 

Damien always drafted, scrapped, and drafted the letters again. He’d always spend way too long figuring out the words and worrying about revising like it was some sort of essay for school. He often asked Lucien to read over it for mistakes and to help him edit. If Lucien had his way, they’d just send out a card and maybe do a phone call instead to save his father the hand cramps. He swore, one day he’d send out his own strongly worded Christmas letters. The ones to Damien’s side of the family would call them all out for being assholes. He wouldn’t send one to Mikey, though. If he did, it would be nicer and a candy cane would be enclosed in the envelope. Then he’d send one to Garrett to ask the guy to stop staring at his father’s ass. It was weird and creepy. Or perhaps that letter could just read, ‘He’s not going to fuck you, Garrett,’ and then he’d sign his name at the bottom in big calligraphy. 

Before he knew it, the engine cut off and they had pulled back into the driveway. He got out of the car with Robert and carried the drinks into the house. 

“Dad! We’re home!” he called through the house. He waited a moment. “Dad?” 

Damien emerged from the library a couple of seconds later. “I’m sorry, Lulu, I was just finishing a phone call.” he hummed, walking down the stairs to greet his son and his lover. 

“What kind of phone call?” Lucien asked, letting his father kiss his temple. 

“The medical kind, darling,” Damien replied with a small smile. 

“Ew,” Lucien replied. “It wasn’t about me, was it?” 

“Not this one. An earlier one today was, though. I scheduled your surgery to take your wisdom teeth out for late January.” Damien hummed, moving on to Robert. “Did you two have fun out there? You’re not too cold, are you?” 

“Yeah, Lulu’s a pro now. As for being cold, what do you think?” Robert asked, pressing his cold hands to Damien’s cheeks. 

“Oh! You’re positively frigid.” Damien replied, gently taking Robert’s hands in his own to try and warm them up.

“Maybe you can get me warm again.” Robert purred, momentarily forgetting about the world besides the two of them. “You know, heat escapes fastest from the head. I bet we can keep mine nice and warm by putting it between your thighs.” 

“Jesus fuck, my virgin ears. Go be gay somewhere else some other time.” Lucien groaned, pushing one of the teas into his father’s hands, and the other into Robert’s to force the pair to let go of each other. 

“Lucien, language.” Damien sighed, his cheeks still flushed bright red from Robert’s comments. 

“Tell that to your fuckbuddy, who wants to start talking dirty while I’m a foot away.” Lucien retorted. 

“Alright, you’re right. What Robert said wasn’t appropriate, especially not in front of you. It was bedroom talk to be kept in the bedroom.” Damien said, looking over at Robert expectantly. 

“Yeah, he’s right. I’m sorry, Luce, I just kinda forget everything when I see your dad.” Robert said honestly. 

Damien smiled softly at the words and wrapped an arm around Robert to hold him close. “We’ll do our best to keep things family friendly in front of you, darling. I’m sorry.” 

Lucien sighed. He was happy for his father, but he also hated seeing him so in love. He hated the flush over his cheeks, the dopey smile, and the way he looked at Robert like he was sort of godsend. It all made it hard for him to stay mad at the man. 

“Alright. I’ll hold you to that.” Lucien said. “What was the other medical call about?” 

“Oh, yes. That one was to, um, schedule a consultation. For a, er, double mastectomy.” Damien explained awkwardly. 

His transition was an unspoken truth between himself and Lucien and was just treated as a fact of life. Lucien knew his father had had a hysterectomy when he was about five, kind of a little bit after he’d had his tonsils and adenoids taken out. He knew his dad had been kept on testosterone for as long as he could remember. He didn’t really ask about the finer details of his body. He’d seen his father lounging around the house on lazy weekend mornings without a binder on, of course, but he’d never really thought that hard about that. He didn’t ask his father about his anatomy. 

“Mastectomy. Which one is that again?” Robert asked after a second of thought. 

“Top surgery, Robert,” Damien replied, crossing his arms over his chest in an effort to try and hide that part of his body even further. He could feel his face burning red. 

“Oh. Whoa. Hey, that’s a good thing, right? You’ve wanted that one for a little bit, haven’t you?” Robert asked, smiling at him and rubbing his shoulders to try and calm him down again. 

“Yes, it’s very good. I’ve wanted it for years. Our insurance will cover it completely, so we don’t have to worry about the cost. There’s a surgeon in Boston who can travel down to the Maple Bay clinic.” Damien replied with a nod. “I’m terribly nervous.” 

“I think everyone gets scared about surgeries, Dad,” Lucien said. “They’re cutting your body and sewing it back together all different. That’s not really a trip to Disneyland. I’m not super thrilled about getting my wisdom teeth taken out.” 

“Ooh, that’s gonna be fun afterward, though. Wisdom teeth are fun because I think they have to knock you out these days. Most places do, anyways. The shit they give you is so strong you get kinda goofy afterward while it’s wearing off.” Robert hummed happily. “Damey, let me know when that is so I can come with you to pick him up.” 

“Yeah, but then my face is gonna swell up and it’s gonna hurt,” Lucien said with a small frown at Robert. 

“Drugstore painkillers help with that, darling.” Damien hummed. “You are rather lucky, though. I remember I was awake when they took mine out. I think I was about fifteen at the time.” 

Lucien gaped at that. “What? They had you stay awake?” 

“Honey, my entire upper and lower jaws were completely numb. I didn’t feel a thing.” Damien replied, reaching over to stroke Lucien’s hair. 

“Yeah, but you could hear and see everything. That would be horrifying.” Lucien said. “They put you under for top surgery, right?” 

“Yes, darling, I’ll be asleep for the top surgery,” Damien replied with a small smile to him. 

“Oh. Okay, good.” Lucien replied, relaxing a bit. Still, they were completely changing the layout of his father’s chest. It was nerve-wracking. 

“You can come to the consultation appointment if you’re that worried about the details, darling. I don’t mind.” Damien offered. “Robert, you can come too, if you’d like.” 

“I’ll be there. Just text me the time and date and I’ll come with.” Robert promised, wrapping his arms around the other man. 

Damien melted back into his arms and sipped the peach tea. Lucien eventually went up to his room, whether it was to give himself space or them space was unclear. Robert stayed for a while longer, happy to just drink the tea with Damien and curl up on the couch with him, chatting quietly with each other. 

When Robert had to leave to tend to Betsy, Damien kissed him at the door. 

“Thank you, Robert. For everything.” Damien hummed as he helped the other into his coat. 

“Hey, it’s no problem. Lulu’s a good kid, and his dad is pretty hot, too.” Robert hummed, kissing Damien’s lips warmly a few more times. “You sleep well, Dames. I’ll probably see you before Saturday, but if I don’t, then I’ll see you Saturday.” 

“Goodnight, dearest. I love you.” Damien replied, grinning up at Robert. “Now, go. I won’t keep you from Betsy any longer.” 

Robert laughed and nodded, kissing Damien one last time before slipping out the front door.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS: Search for Welcome to the Christmas Parade on YouTube if you wanna hear Lucien's favorite Christmas song. Robert's song (Carol of the Bells by Trans Siberian Orchestra) is also a banger so go ahead and check that one out too. Stay cool babies.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter's not the most dramatic thing ever. I kinda wanted a fluffy one to be put in for a breather, ya feel?

 

Robert’s week was going pretty well. He’d officially been sober for two months, his royalty checks came in the mail. Val was still talking to him and planning to come down for Christmas. To top it all off, the coupon he’d found in his wallet for Betsy’s food hadn’t expired yet. 

He’d been working all week to slowly get his house cleaned, knowing it would only be a couple weeks until Val came and stayed over for Christmas. He’d even bought a special little plastic tub to keep Betsy’s toys. It worked well, despite the fact that the dog liked to rummage around in it for a specific toy, and hadn’t figured out how to put her toys back when she was done with them. 

He’d even started trying to cook for himself. He found it wasn’t hard when he had a recipe in front of him that told him what to do and when to do it. That particular Thursday night, he’d decided to try making a quiche when he heard the doorbell ringing. The noise sent Betsy into a frenzy, and he had to push her away from the door just so he could open it. 

“Dames. Hey, baby, what’s up?” Robert asked, stepping aside to let Damien in. 

“Work was long and taxing. Lucien is over at Hugo’s, helping Ernest with homework, and I’d just love someone to talk to if you don’t mind. I have too much on my mind.” Damien explained. 

“Oh, sure, baby. Here, take off your coat. I’m sure Betsy’s gonna wind up in your lap the moment you sit down anywhere.” Robert hummed. 

“Thank you. It smells lovely in here, by the way. Are you cooking?” Damien asked as he slipped his shoes off and hung his coat up in the front closet. He leaned down and scooped Betsy into his arms. 

“Oh, yeah. I found a quiche recipe online that looked good. I’m trying to cook, at least.” Robert replied, smiling at the sight of his lover cradling his dog like a baby. 

Damien smiled at that and kissed Robert’s cheek. “I’m sure you’ve done a wonderful job, darling.” he crooned. 

“I do my best. You can go ahead and sit. This thing has a good twenty minutes to cook, so we can talk for a while.” Robert hummed, gesturing to the living room couch. 

Damien nodded and sat down on the couch, sighing as he sank into the soft cushions. 

“So. You’ve had a long day. You wanna talk about what’s on your mind?” Robert asked, sitting next to Damien on the couch. 

“I’d love to.” Damien nodded, pulling his hair down from the ponytail and shaking it out with his fingers. “I’m nervous about the consultation on Saturday, Lucien keeps asking why I write letters to people during the Christmas season, despite the fact that I’ve been doing this all his life, and to top it all off, Mikey called me before I came over here and he’s getting married. He wants Lucien and I to be in the wedding.”

Robert blinked and wrapped his arm around Damien’s shoulders, letting the other man hold his waist in return. “Well, why don’t we start with the easiest one? What’s got you nervous about the consultation?” 

“I don’t know. I suppose I’m just scared that something might go wrong. What if there’s something wrong with me and they don’t let me go through with the surgery?” Damien replied. 

“What could be wrong? Breast tissue is breast tissue, no matter who it’s on. I think, generally, if there’s something wrong, they’d rather get rid of it than keep it anyways.” Robert replied. 

“Ah. That does make sense.” Damien sighed softly. “I suppose I’m worrying too much over stupid things.” 

“Nah, it’s not stupid. It’s a big deal and you just wanna make sure things go smoothly. I think that’s pretty normal.” Robert replied with a small shrug. “Just think about how good you’ll feel once it’s done. Next time Joseph wants to invite us on that fucking yacht of his, you don’t have to sit there and bake in a shirt when it’s, like, a hundred degrees out.” 

“I’ll likely have scars, though. I don’t know how good that would look.” Damien sighed. “Would you still like seeing me nude if I had more scars?” 

“Are you kidding? Scars are fucking sexy. You’d only be getting better, baby, which is weird to imagine since you’re so great now.” Robert replied, smiling at the thought of his boyfriend lounging shirtless on a summer day, the scars on his chest and the small scar on his lower belly on full display. “If you get really insecure about them, though, you could always get a couple tattoos to cover them. Tattoos are hot, too.” 

Damien felt his cheeks flush and smiled while he pressed his face into the other man’s familiar red shirt. “I suppose you’re right. It won’t be so bad.” he hummed. 

“Of course I’m right.” Robert hummed, rubbing Damien’s shoulder. “You’re legitimately the sexiest man I’ve ever been with. Every part of you is perfect. I love you so fucking much.” 

“I love you, too, Robert.” Damien smiled. 

Robert smiled and kissed his head. “So, do you wanna talk about Lucien and those letters now? Maybe the wedding thing, too?” 

“I suppose we’d better.” Damien sighed. “My family has had a tradition of sending letters along with Christmas cards every year. We’ve been doing it since before I can remember, likely even before I was born. Once I’d had Lucien, I started to do it, too. He’s never questioned it as much until about a year ago, even then it wasn’t that much. He dropped the issue rather quickly. This year, he won’t. He refuses to drop the issue, no matter how much I ask him to. I don’t understand why he suddenly has a problem with it when a couple years ago, he simply didn’t care one way or the other.” 

“It’s probably part of getting older, Damey. I think what it is is him trying to figure everything out and think more critically about stuff.”

“And I’m not upset about that. I’m just not used to him pressing so adamantly into me about anything. He hasn’t asked so many questions since he was about four or five when he was going through that ‘why?’ phase. Back then, it was easier, because the questions were simpler and I always had an answer for him. Now, when he asks me why I write these annual letters to people, of whom I only ever get one reply, I don’t know how to answer. I can’t just say that it’s tradition and they’re family because he doesn’t accept that. He wants an actual, almost psychological or philosophical answer and I can’t give him that. I feel like I need to. As his parent, I can’t say ‘I don’t know.’” 

Robert nodded as he listened to Damien vent, trying to focus on the other’s words and emotions rather than how cute it was that he had to pull his hands away from his waist so he could talk with them. “I think that’s a pretty common parenting issue. The kid gets old enough to start asking hard questions, and the parent’s not ready for that. You’re used to being the adult, authority figure. You’re not used to the idea that Lucien’s becoming an adult, too.” 

Damien sighed softly, knowing Robert was right. “What would I even tell him, though? He deserves an answer, and I don’t have one. He won’t stop asking until he gets one.” 

“Well, you could be totally honest and tell him that you don’t know. Or, we could sit here and try to figure out an answer he might be more satisfied with.” Robert suggested. “I’m not an actual therapist, though. Maybe it’d be better going to one of those.” 

“Lucien wouldn’t even let me if I tried. We’ve tried so many therapists, and he hates going to any therapy session I try. I don’t want to force him.” 

“Alright. Well, I’ll have to do, then.” Robert hummed, moving on the couch so he was facing Damien. “Why do you think you write the letters every year, to more people than just Mikey?” 

“I don’t know. I just feel like I’m supposed to, you know? I don’t want my family’s traditions to die with me. Maybe it’s because I want the full family experience for Lucien, and I was never able to give him that, so I give what I can.

“I was one of the middle children in a family with four children. My aunts and uncles all had two or three kids, so I had plenty of cousins. It was a huge family, and I remember every Christmas being wonderful and so full of traditions and love. We’d always go to mass for Christmas Eve, and then again on Christmas morning. The tree, the lights, the food, the gifts, everything was so wonderful. We’d all congregate in my grandmother’s house every year. For the first three years of Lucien’s life, we were able to continue that. For a few years, he had the family I’ve always wanted him to have. I was the first of my family to have a child, and everyone absolutely adored Lucien. Granted, most of them didn’t like Garrett since he didn’t marry me before Lucien was born. He was seen as a stain that ruined our family’s and my honor.” 

“Wait, they were madder at him than they were at you?” Robert asked. 

“In my family and our church, it was always men and their lusts that started sinful relationships. For those first couple of years, before I transitioned, they saw me as their poor, unfortunate angel that fell prey to a man who didn’t have the honor to marry me before, or even after, giving me a child. It was nonsensical to blame it on me because it doesn’t really matter what someone wears, there will always be some man who has a thing for people who dress modestly rather than someone who shows off as much skin as possible. Telling me to watch what I wear was pointless.” Damien replied honestly with a small smile. 

“Huh. Okay, everything’s Garrett’s fault. Gotcha, continue.” Robert said after taking a moment to think that over. 

Damien laughed behind one of his hands. “Well, in short, they cut off communication with me when I started my transition. The only one who ever really kept in touch was Michael. I suppose part of me hopes that some year they’ll come around again and have a change of heart. Any year could be the year, and they won’t reply to my letters if there’s none to reply to one year. I suppose I hate that Lucien’s only sense of family right now is me and his uncle, Michael.” 

Robert listened attentively and held his arms around Damien to keep the other man close, more than happy to listen to him think aloud. “So, then, you’re worried about being in Mike’s wedding because you don’t wanna start shit?” 

“Yes, exactly. I want to be there for him, but I don’t want to create any tension on what’s supposed to be one of the happiest days of his life.” Damien nodded. 

“Jesus, that bites,” Robert said. 

“Yes, it does. What do you think I should do, darling?” Damien asked, looking up at Robert, his dark eyes imploring behind his thick glasses. Robert felt his heart melt into mush. 

“Well, uh, I think you should do it. I mean, do it for him. You don’t even have to speak to anyone in your family other than Mikey and his wife. If you don’t start shit and you’re just there, no one can blame you for starting shit.” He said, having to take a moment to regain his thoughts after the way Damien looked at him. 

Damien nodded thoughtfully, his eyes flickering away. “That does seem like the best approach. Alright, I’ll do that. Thank you, Robert.” 

“Anything for you, Dames,” Robert replied, giving his lover a crooked smile before he leaned forward and kissed the corner of his mouth. The only thing that tore him away from the other man was the ringing of the timer in the kitchen. “That’d be the quiche.” 

“Yes, it would. Don’t let it burn, darling.” Damien replied, smiling against Robert’s lips before finally pulling away. 

Robert hummed in reply and reluctantly pulled away and got off the couch to walk over into the kitchen. When he pulled the oven open to check the quiche, he couldn’t help but smile when he saw how perfect the egg looked. It was the little victories. He grabbed an oven mitt and pulled it out to cool before switching the oven off. “Dames! Come in here and look at this goddamn quiche!” 

Damien smiled when he heard his boyfriend in the other room and got up from the couch to join him. “It does look picturesque.” He agreed, sidling over to Robert and taking his hand. 

“Isn’t it? God, it’s the sexiest quiche I’ve ever seen in my life.” Robert said, his chest puffed out with pride. 

“I’m proud of you, darling. Your first proper quiche and you made it all by yourself. I really am very proud of you.” 

Robert looked over at Damien and smiled back at him, knowing from one look at the man that it wasn’t just the quiche he was proud of him for. “I should thank you for your help.” 

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything, darling, this was all your own doing. Everything’s been your own doing.” Damien replied, grinning at Robert

“You were always there, though. You’ve always been the key motivator.” Robert replied. “God, I love you so fucking much.” 

It didn’t take much more than a second for tears to begin welling up in Damien’s eyes and spilling over his cheeks. 

“Aw, baby, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Robert said, breathing a laugh as he pushed Damien’s glasses up to rest on top of his head so he could wipe the tears away. 

“I cry at everything. My god, it’s so embarrassing.” Damien laughed.

“No, it’s cute. You’re just emotional, no shame in that.” Robert hummed. “Hey, do you remember being a kid and getting super psyched when you could sit on the floor while you ate?” 

“I suppose so. Why do you ask?” Damien replied, a little caught off guard by the question. 

“Let’s eat on the floor, tonight, baby.” Robert hummed, moving to start cutting into the quiche to serve up a couple pieces for the two of them. 

“Oh. Well, I suppose there’s nothing to stop us, really.” Damien thought aloud. In all his adult life, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever sat on the floor while eating a meal. 

Robert smiled and gave him a plate with a slice of the quiche, a fork, and then a glass of cool tap water. They moved back to the living room and got settled down on the floor. Robert sat facing Damien, his legs spread around the other man. Damien took the cue and spread his legs around Robert in return, resting the backs of his knees on Robert’s thighs so they were seated close together. He couldn’t help but smile and laugh a bit as they got comfortable. There was something exhilarating about being childish with his lover in a private setting. It felt rather silly to be halfway in the other’s lap, doing something as mundane as eating dinner.

Robert knew what they were doing was dumb. Everything about it was dumb, from the way they were sitting to the idea to sit on the floor at all. But, Damien was smiling and giggling, and after the day the other man had had, it seemed like a much-needed break. 

They spent dinner talking and smiling at each other. Every so often, they’d have to lift their plates up and away so Betsey wasn’t able to eat off of them. The dog’s never-ending attempts just made Damien laugh more until his stomach was sore. When they were finally able to finish their meals, they took care of the dishes and kept close together at the sink. 

“It tasted good, right?” Robert asked as he handed Damien a plate to dry. 

“Of course it did, Robert. You did wonderfully.” Damien nodded. He turned at the sound of children shouting outside in the streets, only catching a glimpse as Ernest chased after Lucien to their house next door. The poor younger boy was sliding wildly on the ice underneath the loose, fresh snow. 

“What are they up to?” Robert asked, snorting as he watched the preteen flailing before he finally fell on the ice. 

“Your guess is as good as mine. Though, I’d bet money on Lucien bothering Ernest and setting him on a wild goose chase around the cul de sac.” Damien said. “I’d better head home soon to make sure they stay out of trouble.” 

“Yeah, I guess you’d better.” Robert sighed softly. 

“Oh, don’t be upset, darling. I’ll stay the night sometime soon, I promise.” Damien laughed, kissing his cheek as they finished with the dishes. 

“I’m holding you to that.” Robert chuckled. He walked Damien to the door, almost reluctant to let him go. 

“Thank you for tonight, Robert. Thank you for letting me rant at you.” Damien said as he pulled his shoes and coat on, holding onto his boyfriend for balance. 

“Hey, it’s no biggie. Feel free to rant at me again sometime.” Robert hummed. “You gonna be okay out there? It seemed pretty icy.” 

“I’m just walking next door, Robert. I can handle myself.” Damien replied with a small smile. 

“Just making sure. Hey, what time’s the thing tomorrow?”

“It’s at eleven, so I’ll be heading out around ten-thirty. You can ride with us if you’d like.” 

Robert nodded. “Gotcha. I’ll be over sometime between ten and ten-thirty.” 

“Thank you, again, dear heart. For everything.” Damien said once his coat was buttoned up once again. 

“Like I said, no biggie.” Robert chuckled, kissing the other’s nose softly. “I love you, Dames. Be careful out there.” 

“You worry about me too much.” Damien teased, kissing Robert goodbye before letting himself out of the house. 

Robert laughed and watched him go, staying by the window the whole time to make sure the other man got home without slipping on the ice. 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of research I did on top surgeries is ridiculous.   
> Also this chapter is longer than usual since it might be a little longer until the next one can go up. I have to work a lot this week, and then I'm heading out of town with my family for a small vacation.

When Damien arrived home, he walked in to hear Lucien and Ernest arguing with each other at the kitchen table. 

“That’s not a word, dipshit. You can only use real words.” Lucien huffed as if he’d been saying that same thing for a while. 

“‘Fergous’ is too a word. My dad’s the English nerd, I think I’d know.” Ernest replied. 

“Yeah? Use it in a sentence.” Lucien challenged. 

“Well, I don’t know what it means. I just know that it’s a word!”

“Hello, boys. Have you eaten?” Damien asked as he walked into the dining room after taking off all his winter gear and shoes at the door. 

“Hi, Dad,” Lucien replied. 

“Hi, Damien.” Ernest chimed. “Hey, you have a lot of books and stuff. Tell Lucien to learn more words.” 

“Tell Ernest to stop making up words for Scrabble points.” Lucien bit back. 

“What’s the word in question?” Damien asked. 

“‘Fergous.’ F-E-R-G-O-U-S.” Ernest replied, pointing to his pieces on the board. 

Damien couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t know why, but he’d always found Ernest Vega rather endearing. The way the boy acted was just like Lucien had at about thirteen. “I’m sorry, honey, but I don’t think that’s a word.” 

“Ugh, shit,” Ernest whined, taking his pieces off the board to try and come up with a new word. 

“Are either of you hungry at all?” Damien asked again, moving to Lucien to push some of his son’s hair from his face. 

“Do we still have that frozen Margherita pizza?” Lucien asked. 

“I think so, yes. Should I put that in for you?” 

“Please?”

Damien smiled and kissed the top of Lucien’s head. “Of course, darling. Ernest, do you want anything to drink?” 

“Just water’s okay,” Ernest replied, not looking up from the row of letters he was mentally arranging and rearranging to find a word that would kick Lucien’s ass. 

“Lucien, what about you?” Damien asked. 

“Yeah, water’s good,” Lucien replied. “Jesus, just spell a word. It’s not fucking rocket surgery.” 

“You’re rocket surgery,” Ernest grumbled back. 

Damien just smiled to himself and walked back into the kitchen to start preheating the oven. He got the glasses of water for the pair of boys before giving them their space and staying in the kitchen to monitor the oven and the pizza. 

While his dinner with Robert had calmed him down substantially, he still found himself thinking too much about the surgery consultation and Michael’s upcoming wedding, which he hadn’t even told Lucien about yet. He poured out a glass of wine in the hopes that it would help even a little bit. He forced himself to think about anything else and tried to relax while he waited on the timer to go off. The only thing that pulled him from his own mind was the sound of his phone going off in his pocket. 

When he pulled it out, he sighed softly when he saw the FaceTime request from his younger brother. He figured he’d better answer the call, though he wasn’t entirely sure if he had the choice. 

When he answered the call, he saw his brother sitting on the couch next to a young woman with long, sand-colored hair. They were holding hands and grinning at each other. He wondered if he looked like that when he was with Robert. 

“Hi, Damien!” Mikey chirped with a grin at his brother. 

“Good evening, Michael. I assume this is your fiancée?” Damien replied with a small smile. 

“Yeah, I meant to introduce you to her properly, but, you know,” Michael replied. 

“It’s difficult to do when we see each other about once or twice a year. I understand.” Damien replied. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Damien, Michael’s older brother.”

“Hi! I’m Hayley. Mikey’s said so much about you.” The woman said with a hundred-watt grin. “Mikey wanted to see where you’re at with the wedding stuff. Obviously, if you need more time to decide, that’s totally fine, though. Then, I realized that I’ve never even met you before, and it’d be super weird to meet you for the first time at the actual wedding. Honestly, I don’t know why we never just did this kind of call in the first place.” 

Damien blinked as the woman started chipperly talking to him. He couldn’t tell if she was extremely nervous about meeting him over the phone or if she was just comfortable enough to talk and talk. 

“Oh, that’s alright. Really, I completely understand, I’m not upset at all.” Damien said with a small smile at the girl. She was a pretty young thing that looked like she could have come out of some twangy country music video, with a big white smile and the hint of a drawl. He’d never really thought about who his brother would end up with, but she seemed like a good match for him. “I’m very happy to finally meet you.” 

Hayley beamed at him, then looked over at Michael with the same excited smile. “Oh, my gosh, we have to find our way out there for Christmas or New Years or something. I don’t want to only just be meeting you and your son at the wedding.”

“Either one would be lovely. We’d love to have you here. I’m sure we could make the room here, too, so you don’t need to worry about finding a hotel.” Damien replied easily. 

“Okay, I might hold you to that one.” Michael hummed. “I think a few days for New Years at your place sounds great. We’ll cement everything in the next week or so. So, yeah, where are you standing with the wedding? Or do you want more time?” 

“I might need a little bit of time with Lucien since I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to him about it yet. As for me, I’d love to be your best man.” Damien said. 

“Lucien’s your son, right?” Hayley asked. 

“Yes, he is.” 

“Okay, great. Tell him that the girl who’s gonna be my flower girl is sixteen, so it wouldn’t be weird for him to be the ring bearer.” 

“I’ll let him know. I’ll ask him later tonight, he’s busy playing Scrabble with a neighbor boy right now.” 

“Oh?” Michael piped up with a small smirk. 

“Not like that. I think Ernest is fourteen at most.” Damien chuckled. 

“Oh well. I’ll bother you later with working out wedding details. Thanks so much, Dames. God, this means so much to me.” Michael said with a smile at his older brother. 

“I know you’d do the same for me. How could I refuse to be there for you on your wedding day?” Damien replied, smiling back at Michael. 

“Will I be doing the same thing for you anytime soon?” Michael asked eagerly. 

“Not for another year or two, at least.” Damien laughed. “We’re going to focus on dating first.”

“Alright, well that’s valid.” Michael chuckled. 

“I’ll call you later with Lucien’s verdict, as soon as I have it.” Damien replied with a smile. 

“Gotcha. Love you, Damien.” Michael said. 

“It was so great to meet you!” Hayley chirped. She hadn’t once stopped smiling. 

“You as well. Goodnight, you two.” Damien replied before ending the call. He sighed as the kitchen went quiet once again. With a few minutes left on the oven timer, he grabbed his wine glass again and took another sip. 

When the pizza was finished, he took it out of the oven and let it cool a bit before cutting it into slices. 

“Lucien, Ernest, it’s ready if you two want to take a momentary break.” He said to the pair at the dinner table. 

The teenagers got up and raced to the kitchen to get the food. Damien fished them down a couple of glasses for water. 

“Damien, can I have wine?” Ernest asked as he put a couple slices of pizza onto his plate. 

“Absolutely not,” Damien replied.

“Lucien says you let him drink it sometimes,” Ernest whined. 

“Only on occasions like New Years. Even then, it’s only wine and it’s only one or two glasses.” Damien replied. 

“My dad lets me vape. I think wine’s not too different.” Ernest said. 

Damien couldn’t help but laugh and ruffle the boy’s dark hair. “Honey, trust me when I tell you that your father isn’t happy about your vape whatsoever.” 

Ernest didn’t try to fight it any further. After the boys had their food, they went back out to the dining room to resume their game. They played for a few hours more until Ernest had to head home so he wouldn’t miss his curfew. Damien scolded him lightly for not wearing a proper winter jacket before the boy finally left with a roll of his eyes. He met Lucien’s eyes and smiled at him warmly. 

“What? You look like you wanna say something and I’m not going to like it.” Lucien asked with a small sigh. 

“Your Uncle Michael is getting married in September.” He said. 

“Oh, cool. I didn’t know he was even dating anyone.” Lucien hummed. 

“He called with his fiancée while the pizza was cooking. I think she seems like a lovely girl. She’s very bright and sweet. They want to know if you’d be interested in being their ring bearer for the ceremony. Her flower girl is about your age, so you wouldn’t be walking down the aisle with a five-year-old.” Damien said easily. “Michael asked me to be his best man, and I’ve agreed.” 

Lucien blinked up at his father, trying to grasp everything. “I’m guessing it’ll be a Catholic wedding, out in Kansas? Everyone else will be there?” 

“Yes. They’ve already booked the Cathedral and everything.” Damien said. 

“It won’t start shit, will it? Us being there?” Lucien asked. 

“It might. The way I see it, if we simply show up and don’t try to go out of our way to force your grandparents or your other aunts and uncles to interact with us, we won’t be in the wrong. We’ll be there for Mikey, not to start a familial war.” Damien replied, reaching over to run his fingers through his son’s hair. “I don’t think anyone would be upset about seeing you again. They all adored you when you were a baby, though it was impossible not to. Your only sin’s been your relation to me.”

“Dad, I sold oregano to people and told them it was weed.” Lucien sighed. “I’m not a model Catholic or anything, but that’s not because of you.” 

Damien smiled warmly at that and gently cradled his son’s face in his hand. “You might not make the best choices, but I’m proud of you.” 

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll have the Hallmark moment later,” Lucien said, his cheeks flushing, though he didn’t pull away from his father. “Agh, alright fine. I’ll be his ring bearer. If anyone else in your family tries to start shit, though, I’m not above fighting people in the house of God.” 

“Thank you, darling. I love you.” 

“Yeah, I know you do. I love you, too, Dad. I’m gonna go put on pajamas now. What time’s your thing tomorrow?” 

“Eleven in the morning. Robert will be coming over to ride with us.”

“Alright, cool.” Lucien said before moving to head up to his room to change and start relaxing for the rest of the night.

Damien put the leftover pizza away in the refrigerator before deciding to follow suit. He texted Michael to let him know about Lucien’s verdict, before slowly winding down for the night. He finally said goodnight to Lucien a couple hours later, kissing him on the forehead and telling him not to stay up much longer so he wouldn’t be too tired the next morning. With that, he returned to his bedroom, set his alarm, and got settled in for the night. 

He didn’t sleep well at all. He’d get a couple hours, then wake up, then fall back asleep for a few more hours just to wake up again. This cycle continued all night until he finally gave up around four in the morning. 

He took a cold shower to help himself wake up further before getting dressed for the day and making himself tea and breakfast. He spent his morning researching the things the Best Man did when it came to planning a wedding, as well as the wedding day to get a feel for what he’d need to do for Michael. 

Lucien eventually woke up, ate cold pizza for breakfast, and then got dressed and ready, finishing up around 10:15 when Robert showed up at their door. When he walked back down to the main living area of the house, he groaned at the sight of the two fathers kissing warmly in the foyer. 

Damien pulled away from Robert when he heard Lucien walk down the stairs, smiling sheepishly at the teenager. “I’m sorry, darling. We didn’t know when you’d be ready, so we thought we were safe.” 

“I’ll accept the apology just this once,” Lucien replied. 

“Hey, Luce. You excited for the clinic?” Robert asked with a small smile, his arm still around Damien’s shoulders. 

“Oh, yeah. Everything’s sterile as hell and the waiting rooms are full of old lady magazines.” Lucien rolled his eyes. 

“Hopefully we won’t be waiting for too long.” Damien hummed, leaning into Robert. “I suppose if everyone’s ready, we can head out a little early.” 

Lucien nodded and moved with his father to get their winter coats on and head out to his father’s car in the garage. He sat in the back seat for the ride, taking mental note of the way Damien and Robert were always touching somehow through the whole ride to the clinic. Whether it was just holding hands, or Robert’s hand on his dad’s thigh or his dad lovingly patting Robert’s cheek, they were always touching each other. When they got to the clinic and got out of the car, they went back to holding hands while they all walked into the clinic together and Damien checked himself in. 

They were directed back to another area of the clinic, where Damien checked himself in a second time before taking the insurance paperwork from the woman at the front desk and sitting down in the waiting room with Robert and Lucien. He filled out the paperwork with ease, smiling as Robert looked over his shoulder and made comments. 

“I don’t know, Dames. You sure you don’t have a history of drug abuse?” Robert asked, watching as the other smiled and laughed at his little jokes. Damien seemed to be relaxing, even if it was a little bit. 

“I’m fairly certain,” Damien replied with a small smile, working through the paperwork with ease before signing and dating along the line on the bottom of the last page. He brought the clipboard back to the woman at the front desk and sat back down with Robert and Lucien until he was finally called back a few minutes later. 

The pair followed him back to the little examination room the nurse lead them into. Damien took a seat on the exam table while Lucien and Robert sat down in the pair of chairs against the wall. The nurse took his blood pressure, then had him take his shoes off and step out to weigh him on a scale just outside the room. She jotted down a couple numbers before letting him return to the examination room. 

“Alright, that’s all from me. I’ll let Dr. Nguyen know you’re ready.” She said with a small smile. 

“Alright, thank you,” Damien replied, moving to return to the room. 

“We’re waiting on the doc, now?” Robert asked when Damien returned to the room and sat back on the padded table. 

“Yes, we are. Hopefully, it won’t be too long of a wait.” Damien replied, fiddling with the sanitary paper that covered the table. 

“Hey, relax,” Robert said. “It’s gonna be okay, Dames. It’s just a consultation. You’re just talking to the guy about what you want.” 

“I know. You’re right, but still…” Damien said before forcing himself to take a deep breath in, hold it for a second, and exhale. “I can’t stop worrying that something bad might happen, or something doesn’t go as planned.” 

“You’ll be fine, Babe. You taught my ass how to waltz, remember? You can handle talking to a surgeon.” Robert said. 

Damien opened his mouth to reply but closed it again as the door opened and the surgeon let himself in. The middle-aged man greeted him with a warm smile. 

“I’m guessing you’re Damien. I’m Dr. Nguyen.” He said, holding a hand out to him. 

Damien took it and shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure.” 

The surgeon smiled and made sure the door was shut before moving to the notes on the computer. “Alright, so your records say you’ve been on testosterone since May of 2004. So, it’s been about fourteen years now.” 

“Yes, that’s right,” Damien replied, playing with the fabric of his pants as his heart pounded in his chest. 

“Well, everyone moves at a pace they’re comfortable with. I’ve found that results are usually better on people with at least a year or two of testosterone under their belt.” The surgeon said, moving over to him. “There’ll be a better base of muscle under the tissue for me to work with. Many young men who get the surgery get it after only one year on testosterone, and it takes time, then, to go from the flat chest of a little boy to the general shape of a grown man.” 

Damien nodded in understanding, relaxing a little bit at the words. 

“Now comes the part no one’s eager for. If you don’t mind, I’d like to see your chest so we can see what the best procedure for you would be.” Dr. Nguyen said, keeping a comfortable distance from the other man. 

“Oh, I suppose there’s no way around that,” Damien said softly, glancing over to Lucien, who hadn’t seen without clothes covering his entire body since he was a baby and still nursing. Nonetheless, he untucked his shirt from his pants and unbuttoned it before shedding it off. Then, the grabbed the back of his binder and pulled it off over his head. 

Lucien swallowed as he watched his father undress. He was pretty sure he could see the man’s hands shaking nervously as he stripped for the doctor to see his chest. Honestly, it was odd to see that much of his father’s skin. He’d seen his father without a binder on many times, though he was always wearing an oversized sweater or shirt that hid any sort of shape when his binder was off. Part of him felt like he was seeing something that was too personal and too private, and that he should look down or turn away or something. However, another part of him knew that his father would never have invited him to come if he wasn’t comfortable with having him there. 

Robert didn’t seem uncomfortable with seeing Damien’s half-naked body whatsoever. Lucien figured that made sense since the two were practically attached at the hip. As much as Lucien hated to think about it, they’d definitely seen each other naked multiple times. 

“Alright, thank you. Well, your chest is already on the smaller side, which will make my job much easier. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to check your skin elasticity.” Dr. Nguyen hummed, holding his hands out for Damien’s permission. 

“How do you test that?” Damien asked curiously. 

“I’m just going to pinch the skin on the back of your hand for a few seconds and see how fast it goes back to normal,” he explained. 

“Oh. Go ahead, then.” Damien replied, letting the doctor take one of his hands. He watched the simple test and wondered if the way the doctor hummed was indicative of something good. 

“Well, your skin is wonderful. You’ve got amazing elasticity.” The doctor said easily. “Which means, I think you’d be a great fit for a procedure known as the Minimal Scar top surgery, or the Peri-areolar procedure or Keyhole procedure.” 

“What do those mean?” Damien asked. 

“Well, the Minimal Scar procedure is generally the ideal one for transmen with your kind of chest and skin. What I would do is make small incisions on the sides of the chest, here, and part-way around the areola. It’s minimally invasive and the scars are virtually invisible after they’ve healed. Plus, the nerves around your nipples wouldn’t be severed at all, meaning you’d retain sensation there. You would need drains for a week post-op, which is annoying, but necessary. 

“In the peri-areolar procedure, two incisions would be made in the shape of concentric circles around the areola. The smaller would be on the border of the areola, and the larger would be around the first incision, and then that ring of skin is removed. If necessary, more breast tissue can be reduced from there, as well as liposuction. The skin is brought back together in a sort of ‘drawstring’ technique. Generally speaking, the nerve endings and sensation is retained in that procedure, too. Scarring is minimal as well, though many patients, about half, will come back for revisions afterward. Again, you would have to deal with drains for about a week post-op.

“Then, with the keyhole procedure, a small incision is made under the areola and breast tissue is removed with liposuction. The areola isn’t resized at all, but you do retain sensation in the nipple. As per usual, you’d have to have the drains for about a week.” 

Damien nodded as he listened. “So, really the main difference is the scars and how invasive it is?” 

“Yes, as well as the techniques used.” The doctor replied. 

“I see. Pardon me for asking, but what exactly are drains?” Damien asked. 

“Well, your incisions would be lined with tubing underneath the skin, and outside your body would be a small plastic reservoir to catch excess blood and lymphatic fluid. You’d need to empty them a few times a day for a week, and then they’d be removed. Ultimately, they help you heal faster and prevent too much fluid from forming beneath the skin.” 

Damien nodded in understanding, covering his chest with his arms. “How much do those procedures cost, then?” 

“The minimal scarring procedure is about $9000, and the keyhole and peri-areolar procedures are both about $8500, assuming no revisions are needed and the areola or nipple doesn’t need to be resized.” Dr. Nguyen replied. 

Damien nodded again, already knowing that his insurance would be able to cover a majority of the costs, if not all of them. 

“So, what are you thinking?” the surgeon asked. 

“I want the minimal scarring procedure.” 

“Wonderful. Now, I generally work out of Boston, though I can easily travel the hour here, so you won’t need to worry too much about recovering away from home.” Dr. Nguyen said. “You can go ahead and get dressed again and we can schedule the operation and talk about preparations.” 

Damien nodded and quickly pulled the binder on over his head and donned his shirt once again. He got off the table to tuck his shirt back into his pants and walked over to stand near the doctor. 

“Alright, first, I should ask what you do for a living.” The man said. 

“I have a nine-to-five desk job at an IT firm,” Damien replied easily. 

“Oh, great. Well, for recovery time, we generally recommend one to two weeks before going back to work. Many people will go back after a week, but I personally think you should take two if you can. That way, you’ll be feeling a lot better when you do return to work.  It gives you more time to rest and recover so you’ll be feeling like new.” 

“That should be easy enough. The surgery will need to be at least three weeks from Monday, though. I need to request time off two or three weeks ahead.” Damien replied. 

“How about a month from today, then?” the doctor asked, looking over his schedule. “The thirteenth of January?” 

“That sounds perfect,” Damien replied with a nod, letting Robert grab him by the waist and pull him down to sit on his lap. His hand moved to start running through Robert’s dark hair adoringly. 

“Great. Alright, I’m going to send you home with all the preparation information, but I want to go over it now, beforehand, just to make sure you know it.” Dr. Nguyen said, grabbing a few sheets of paper. “So, your records say you’re not a smoker, which is great, regardless of whether or not you’re getting top surgery. I want you to prepare by eating a healthy, balanced diet and exercising regularly. More muscle will help with contouring and aesthetics of the results.” 

“I bet we could rope Cahn into helping with that one.” Robert hummed, earning a curious look from the doctor. “We live across the street from one of those Crossfit weirdos. He’d probably be able to help.” 

“Well, if it works, it works. It’s probably cheaper than a gym, anyways.” The doctor hummed. “You also shouldn’t drink any alcohol for two weeks prior to the surgery, since that can increase bleeding and bruising. Now, when you go off testosterone, do you see a big drop in your mood or energy levels at all?” 

“I don’t think so, though I haven’t been off testosterone for quite some time,” Damien replied. 

“Alright. From now until the surgery, I want you to stop taking your testosterone.” 

“May I ask why?” 

“Well, testosterone tends to thicken the blood, which can increase the risk of blood clots. There are also some studies that show a correlation between testosterone levels and delayed wound healing.” 

Damien nodded in understanding. “Alright, I can do that, then.” 

“Great. You’ll need to make sure not to get a cold in the next month, and you’ll need a caretaker for the first three to five days after the surgery, at least. This can be anyone you’re comfortable with providing wound care and physical assistance. If need be, I can arrange a nurse or medical caretaker for you.” Dr. Nguyen continued. 

“I can do that part,” Robert said. 

“Are you sure? What about Betsey?” Damien asked. 

“I can get Mary to watch her. It’s no biggie.” 

“Will I need anything else, then?” Damien asked. 

“Just prepare your home for the recovery. You’ll be relatively inactive, so make sure to have books and movies around to keep you from getting too bored. In the information I gave you, there’s a shopping list for things you’ll need, like antibacterial soap and loose-fitting button-down shirts. Grocery shopping is too strenuous, so make sure to have plenty at the ready before the surgery. If nothing else, I’m sure you could enlist your partner to help. Make sure everything you’ll need is easily accessible since you won’t be able to move your arms up more than ninety degrees until about a month after the operation.” Dr. Nguyen advised. 

“Can I ask a question?” Robert asked, raising his hand in the air. 

“Go ahead.” 

“How long will we have to wait post-op to have sex?” Robert asked. 

“Oh, please.” Damien groaned, covering his face with his hands when it started to burn red. 

Dr. Nguyen laughed. “No, that’s a valid question. I consider sex to be about as strenuous as cardio. I don’t want him doing any strenuous exercise, including sex, until about three weeks after the operation.”

“Gotcha. Looks like we’re gonna be cuddling a lot, babe.” Robert hummed, smiling at how bright Damien’s flush had gotten, and how it had spread to the tips of his ears. 

“Alright, if you don’t have any other questions, we’ll get a couple before pictures of your chest and you can head out.” The surgeon said easily. 

“I think that’s about all right now.” Damien hummed. 

“Great. Well, you have my phone number. You can always call if something comes to mind.” Dr. Nguyen said, getting up with a camera he’d brought with. “I’m sorry, I’ll have to ask you to undress again.” 

Damien nodded and stripped down once again before standing against the wall where the surgeon directed him to. He pushed his hair behind his back so the doctor could take a picture of the front and side views of his chest. When finished, he got dressed once again before finally walking out with Lucien by his side and Robert’s arm wrapped securely around his waist.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh college kicks my ass. Sorry it took so long to update! Hope ya'll like this one! :)

“How d’you feel?” Robert asked as Damien walked out of Craig’s basement bathroom and into what his neighbor had turned into a home gym. 

“Deeply uncomfortable,” Damien replied with a sigh as he tied his hair up. 

The last time he’d ever really worked out was his junior year of college, and he’d never invested any adult money into exercise clothing. He was beginning to regret that, seeing as he looked like an overgrown teenager in gym class in the the old, baggy band shirt that was two generous sizes too large, sweatpants he’d only ever worn to bed, and a sports bra he’d made Robert and Mary go out and get for him so he wouldn’t have to go through the torture of doing it himself. 

“Well, you can probably go out and get more dedicated athletic clothes sometime,” Robert said. 

“Yeah, but what you’ve got is fine in a pinch.” Craig agreed with a small shrug. “Hey, bro, you want me to get you a pair of shorts? I’ve got like, fifty of them, you can totally use one if you want.” 

“Oh, you don’t need to do that for me,” Damien replied. 

“No, it’s chill. I don’t want you overheating or anything. What size do you usually wear?” Craig replied, waving his hand in the air. 

“My pants are usually a 28/32 or small,” Damien replied honestly. 

“I’ll see what I’ve got. Don’t move.” Craig said before running back up the stairs. 

Damien sighed once he was alone with Robert, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“What’s eating you, Dames?” Robert asked, moving to take his hand. 

“I’m going to make a fool of myself,” Damien replied with a frown. 

“No, you’re not, baby. You’ll do the best you can do.” Robert replied, pulling him closer. “Yeah, this kind of stuff is hard at first, but it’ll get better.” 

Damien wrapped his arms around Robert’s shoulders and hugged him close, burying his face in the other’s shoulder. 

“I mean, I’ve been sober for, what, almost three months now? Yeah, it’s hard, but it’s getting easier, especially because I know you’re proud of me.” Robert hummed, holding the other man tightly. 

“I am proud of you. It’s hard not to be.” Damien replied with a small smile as he kissed Robert’s shoulder. He only pulled away when he heard a couple sets of footsteps coming down the stairs. 

Briar and Hazel trotted down the stairs, already in their pajamas with their hair piled in messy buns on the tops of their heads, each of them carrying large, square bottles of colored liquid. 

“Hi, Mr. Damien. Dad’s coming down soon, he had to take time to read a tag because his eyes are bad and he’s old.” Briar said. 

“Briar!” Hazel hissed, elbowing her sister in the ribs and mouthing the word ‘glasses’. 

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean that you’re old because you have bad eyes.” She said quickly. 

Damien smiled at that. “That’s alright. I am old and I do have terrible eyesight.” 

“Can I see?” Briar asked, setting her bottle aside. 

Damien nodded and slid his glasses off, handing them down to the girl to put on. 

“Whoa!” Briar gasped as she looked around with the glasses on. “Mr. Damien, are you blind?” 

“Just about. I’ve had a horrible case of astigmatism since I was little, and it’s only gotten worse over the years. I think, eventually, I’d better get Lasik surgery.” Damien hummed, subconsciously squinting to see. 

“Does Lasik surgery help?” Hazel asked curiously. 

“Yes, it would fix my vision so I don’t need glasses anymore. It’s a bit expensive, but glasses are rather expensive, too, especially with my prescription.” 

“So it would just pay itself off after a while, right?” 

“Yes, exactly.” Damien nodded. “Now, may I ask you what that is?” 

Briar looked down at the bottle he was pointing to and handed him his glasses back. “Here, I’m getting a headache. This is Pedialyte. It’s kinda like Gatorade, but dad says Gatorade is basically soda, so he doesn’t let us drink it a lot. It’s good for during and after you exercise.” 

“Ah, I see.” Damien hummed, putting his glasses back on. 

“I’m gonna turn on some music. People who don’t listen to music while they exercise are either psychopaths or training to avenge someone’s death.” Hazel piped up, moving to a sound system in the corner of the room. 

“That sounds about right.” Robert hummed. 

“Hey, I found some shorts. I’m pretty sure they’re a small, I don’t know. I haven’t worn them since college.” Craig said, trotting down the stairs and handing them over to Damien. 

“Ah, thank you,” Damien said. He slipped into the bathroom again to change out of the sweatpants and pull the shorts on. They fit fine, but the length was rather shocking. 

The plain black shorts fell to his mid-thigh, a length that had stopped being cool and had become weird after the nineteen-eighties. He looked at himself in the large mirror over the sink and turned to try and figure out whether or not he liked the way they looked on him. It was only while turning and twisting that he noticed the sparkly, red words emblazoned across the back. 

“They fit good, bro?” Craig asked, knocking on the door. 

“Yes, the fit is fine. I’m just a little confused, is all.” Damien replied, opening the door to Craig. 

“What’s up?” Craig asked. 

“Why do you own a pair of short shorts with the word ‘Nasty’ written across the backside?” Damien asked, his cheeks flushed. 

“What?” Robert asked with a grin. He ran over to stand behind his boyfriend, smiling even wider. “Holy shit. That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” 

“Yeah, I made those in college for a party,” Craig said with a laugh. 

“Don’t act like you only wore those once, Craigory,” Robert said, grinning from ear to ear.

“Only on laundry days!” Craig laughed even more. “Come on, let’s get going.” 

They started off easy with Damien just stretching out his limbs so he wouldn’t pull anything. Then, Craig put him on the treadmill for what he called ‘an easy warm-up’ and what Damien would argue was rather difficult, and left him breathless and eternally grateful for the sports drinks the twins had brought down. 

“You know what this thing is?” Craig asked, patting another horrible-looking machine. 

“I couldn’t hazard a guess if I tried.” Damien panted, his face already pink from jogging for ten minutes. 

“Well, here, I’ll show you how it works. You just sit here like this and grab that bar and pull it down, then let it back up, and repeat.” Craig said contently, making the task look extremely easy. 

Damien watched the other man grab the bar and pull down on it, his biceps straining and flexing. Robert stood next to Damien and didn’t miss the way his boyfriend’s eyes widened at the sight of Craig. His cheeks were already flushed and got even darker. 

“I bet I could do that,” Robert said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Here, let me try.” 

“You sure, bro? Do you want me to take some of the weight off there for you?” Craig asked, nonetheless getting up from the seat so Robert could take his place. 

“Touch it and I’ll bite you,” Robert replied, reaching up to grab the bar. 

At first, it was a little difficult. It got easier when he noticed the way Damien was staring at him. He pulled the bar down to his chest once, then twice, then again and again. When he glanced over, he saw Damien staring at him, still flushed, but now biting his lip and shifting his weight every so often. He couldn’t help but grin as he finally let the bar back up and let go. He loved the sudden rush of confidence and warmth that came whenever he could see how attractive he was to his boyfriend. 

“You did very well. You were amazing.” Damien hummed as Robert walked back over to him. He lifted a hand to rest on Robert’s bicep and kept it there. His heart was pounding, but it wasn’t from the jog anymore. 

“Yeah? I bet you’ll be even better.” Robert purred, smiling warmly down at him. 

“I hope you didn’t put that much money down, darling,” he replied, letting Craig adjust the weights on the bar before he sat down. 

Robert grinned as he watched Damien struggle with the lighter weight bars, his face creased in intense concentration. He kept an eye on the clock throughout the entire forty-five-minute workout with Craig until they were finally done. Once Damien had changed back into more weather appropriate clothes, he had his arm wrapped around the other man. 

“You did really well, Dames.” He hummed as they walked out of the house together. 

“I’m horribly out of shape. It’s embarrassing.” Damien replied, wrapping an arm around Robert in return. 

“You did the best you could. Everyone starts somewhere, no shame in that.” Robert hummed. “Hey, it’s only about six. Wanna go back to my place for a while?” 

Damien looked over at Robert and smiled a bit at the question. “I’m assuming you don’t mean for dinner.” 

“Not unless you want me to eat you, or vice versa,” Robert replied with a grin. 

“Let’s go to your place, then,” Damien replied, walking across the cul-de-sac to Robert’s home. 

Damien was greeted by Betsey the moment they unlocked and opened the door. He happily scooped her into his arms to let her lick his face while he slid his shoes off and Robert shut the drapes for privacy. He let the dog down long enough to slip out of his coat and hang it up in the front closet. 

Robert came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist before ducking his head down to start kissing at his neck and shoulder. 

Damien smiled and pulled his hair out of the way for Robert before leaning back into him.

“Have you been waiting all evening for this?” He asked, closing his eyes contently. 

“Pretty much, yeah,” Robert replied between kisses, pressing his mouth on the skin just below Damien’s ear. 

“So have I.” Damien breathed before twisting around to face Robert and wind his arms around his neck. “You’re very strong. It’s - well, I find it very attractive.” 

Robert smiled at the familiar way Damien’s cheeks flushed pink. He kissed them both and tugged him even closer against himself. “I love you, Dames. You’ve got to be the cutest man I’ve ever met.” 

Damien smiled at that and closed the remaining space between the two of them. While he kissed Robert passionately, he felt Robert’s hands slide down from his waist to the sides of his hips. One slid down to his thigh and gently rested on the back of it, guiding the leg up to hitch around his waist. With that, he lifted the other leg up around his waist. Once he had Damien in his arms, he happily carried him off to the bedroom. 

Damien kept kissing Robert on the mouth, cheeks, nose, and every other square inch of his face that he could until they both collapsed down onto the bed. He laughed happily as they hit the mattress and bounced a little bit before finally settling in. He moved to lean over Robert and continue peppering kisses all over his face. Soon enough, he found himself crawling on top of the other man to start kissing his lips again. He held Robert’s face and rubbed his thumbs over the other man’s cheekbones, parting his lips to let his lover’s tongue lap inside. 

Robert’s hands found their way up the back of his shirt and started working their way up higher when his cell phone started ringing. 

“Do you need to get that?” Damien breathed. 

“Ah, let me see.” Robert sighed. “Ugh, it’s my editor.” 

“You’d better take it.” Damien hummed, pulling away to sit up on Robert’s lap. 

“I could let her go to voicemail…” Robert deliberated. 

“Robert, that’s your career. Take the phone call.” Damien insisted. 

Robert pouted but complied. “Hello? I mean, I’m a little busy but I can talk.” 

Damien sat back while Robert talked on the phone, moving to take his shirt off. After the workout at Craig’s, he’d been breathing rather heavily and coughing, so he’d decided putting the binder back on probably wasn’t the best idea. He smiled as he caught Robert eyeing his chest. He nodded silently to his lover and hummed as Robert’s free hand came up to fondle the right side of his chest. 

He let out a happy sigh as he felt Robert take hold of the nipple and start to rub, twist, and tug in all the ways his lover knew he liked. 

“Yeah, I think I can get that deadline. Fuck, that’s gorgeous.” Robert said as he watched Damien’s cheeks flush red while he covered his mouth to muffle any sounds he made. “Huh? Oh, we’re at a, uh, an art museum. This one landscape painting is real pretty. Who? It’s, uh…” 

“Lorrain. Claude Lorrain.” Damien moaned.

“It’s a Claude Lorrain.” Robert repeated, mouthing the words ‘thank you’ to his lover. 

Damien smiled in reply before moving to slip his pants off, followed by his boxer briefs. 

Robert watched in awe, and suddenly the phone call was torture. He only had one hand available and he didn’t know where to put it first. 

In art terms, Damien looked like that one statue of David. Not the weirdly muscley Michelangelo one, but the one that looked like a twink and wore a hat. He didn’t know for certain, but he was pretty sure it was made by another one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Damien looked like that one, but if it was aged up a decade or two. 

“Yeah, hey can I call you back in the morning or something? I’m about to get really busy.” Robert said, moving his hand from Damien’s chest and letting it wander down and feel at the smooth skin along his body. “Alright great, awesome. Talk to you later.” 

When he’d finally hung up, he tossed the phone aside on the bed before leaning up to grab Damien with both hands and tug him down to lay on top of him. 

Damien grinned and stayed with Robert for a few hours until he knew it was time to roll out of the bed and head home. 

“You really gotta go?” Robert asked from the bed while he watched Damien get dressed again. 

“Sadly, yes,” Damien replied as he buttoned up his shirt and tucked it into his pants. “No matter how wonderful it would be to stay up all night with you, Lucien needs to go to school in the morning, and I need to go to work.” 

“Boo. Quit your job and hang out with me all the time.” Robert hummed. 

“Tempting. But I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait until January to stay with me 24/7.” Damien replied as he pulled his socks back on.

“Yeah. Hey, do you think we’ll ever move in together?” Robert asked while watching his lover turn to a mirror and try to make it look like he hadn’t just spent the better half of three hours on his back, his long hair tangling up with every move.

“I’m sure that day will come. Generally, people start cohabitation before marriage these days. We’re serious enough to talk about the possibility of marriage, so I’m sure we’ll end up living under the same roof. Whether that’s after or before engagement, though, is yet to be decided.” Damien replied with a nod, finger combing his hair a little before ultimately giving up and putting it into a ponytail. He could only hope Lucien didn’t notice the poorly hidden tangles when he got home. 

“I like the idea of living with you. Falling asleep with you sounds awesome.” Robert mused. 

“Why don’t we talk more about it later. We’ve only been together a few months after all.” Damien said with a small smile. “Come, walk me to the door.” 

“I’m naked,” Robert replied. “I mean, I will if you want, though.” 

Damien thought a moment about that before fishing out a black bathrobe from the recesses of Robert’s closet and holding it open to him.

Robert sighed and left the bed, walking over to let Damien guide the robe onto his body before he tied it shut at the waist. With that, he wrapped an arm around Damien and walked him to the front door where he watched and helped as his lover pulled on his shoes and coat to brave the Massachusetts winter, even if it was just to walk next door. 

“I’ll miss you, Dames.” He said once the other was ready. 

“I’m going to miss you, too. I’ll see you tomorrow, though.” Damien replied with a small smile, kissing Robert’s lips softly. 

“I love you.” Robert hummed against his mouth. 

“I love you, too. Goodnight, Robert.” Damien replied before pulling away. If he didn’t then, he knew it would take another ten minutes to work himself up to leaving his lover all over again. 

“Goodnight, Dames,” Robert replied, opening the door for Damien. He watched out his window and kept an eye on the other man as he walked home. 

Sure, Damien only lived just next door, but you never knew. There could easily be ice hidden under the snow, or even worse, snow that had fallen, then melted a bit during the day, and had frozen up again into ice. The last thing he wanted was for Damien to slip and fall and hurt himself. The poor guy had enough on his plate as it was, the last thing he needed was a fractured tailbone.

Once Robert saw his boyfriend slip through the front door of his house, he relaxed and stepped away from the window. He stretched and yawned, feeling sleepier than ever. For some reason, Damien seemed to have a more potent effect on him than melatonin. He gathered up Betsey in his arms and brought her back to his bedroom, where he climbed back onto the bed, got under the covers, and settled in for the night. 

Damien returned home to find Lucien settled on the couch, watching TV and tapping away at his phone. 

“Hello, darling. Did you do your homework?” Damien said as he hung his coat up and slipped out of his shoes. 

“Yes, Dad,” Lucien replied with a roll of his eyes. “How was the thing with Craig?” 

“Long and arduous. I wouldn’t wish that kind of torture on even my worst enemies.” Damien replied, joining the teenager in the living room. 

“Even Garrett?” Lucien asked with a small smile. 

“Garrett is not my enemy, Lucien. We just didn’t end amicably, that’s all. Besides, he gave me you. Because of that, I could never truly hate the man.” 

Lucien sighed through his nose, letting his father hug him from behind and kiss the top of his head once before he reached up to push his face away. “He fucked you over and left you to raise a kid and transition on your own. You’re too soft on all the people who fuck you over.” 

“Perhaps,” Damien replied. “Perhaps I am a bit of a doormat. I don’t like being associated with aggression.”

Lucien didn’t reply for a moment. “Hey, can we have dinner?” 

“Of course, darling,” Damien replied, smiling as Lucien followed him off to the kitchen to help him cook. 


End file.
